Lomidze Churi

The family

Imeretian winemaking uses the same buried clay vessel as Kakheti but calls it a churi and treats it differently: only a small part of the pressed pulp goes back into the jar, so the wine comes out lighter and sharper.

Nana Lomidze makes Tsolikouri and Tsitska this way on the hill above Baghdati, about three thousand bottles between them. She spent twenty years teaching chemistry at the school in town and talks about fermentation like someone who has marked a great many exam papers.