Appellation
Usakhelouri
Usakhelouri is a protected designation of origin (PDO) in Racha-Lechkhumi, Georgia, registered on August 30, 2022. Under its specification, Usakhelouri is wine from Usakhelouri.
- Registered
- 2022
- In the catalogue
- 2
On the label
What the label should show
- The name Usakhelouri as a protected designation of origin (PDO).
- Grapes allowed by the specification: Usakhelouri.
These are requirements of the specification. A label that meets them complies with the specification; it does not prove that the bottle is genuine.
The zone
What its specification sets.
Lechkhumi, Tsageri district: the slopes above the Tskhenistskali near Zubi, Isunderi, Okureshi and Opitara, at 350–650 m. Usakhelouri, a rare and low-yielding variety, is the only grape allowed. The dry wine must reach at least 13.5 per cent alcohol — the highest requirement among Georgian zones; semi-dry and semi-sweet need eleven.
In the zone's specification
Grapes: Usakhelouri
Vineyard altitude: 350–650 m above sea level
Yield: no more than 10 t per hectare
Alcohol: no less than 13.5%
Bottling: outside the zone, but within Georgia
Villages of the zone · 6
Zubi, Isunderi, Okureshi, Opitara, Ladzgveria, Makhura
Source: the appellation specification, register no. 983 — National Wine Agency
On the map
- Racha-Lechkhumi — the region
- Usakhelouri — the PDO zone
- Other regions
Authenticity risk
High authenticity risk
Usakhelouri (registered as Okureshis Usakhelouri) is a naturally semi-sweet red PDO from the rare Usakhelouri grape, grown on a few hectares across five villages of Lechkhumi, western Georgia. It is one of the world's rarest wines: published figures cite only about 3-5 tonnes of grapes and roughly 1,000 bottles produced nationally in a good year. Because the authentic zone output is tiny while the name is famous, the volume offered under the name can exceed what the zone can produce. What to check: the producer is registered in the Okureshi / Lechkhumi zone and owns or buys Usakhelouri grapes there, and the label names the Okureshi Usakhelouri appellation. The winery's page on getwine shows where it is registered and its vineyards.
No flag
We hold no evidence of elevated risk. Not a guarantee of authenticity.
Elevated authenticity risk
The name travels further than the zone plausibly supplies, and the question is worth asking of a bottle that carries it.
High authenticity riskthis zone
A small zone, varieties grown almost nowhere else, and a shelf volume the zone cannot account for.
The flag says the name on the label guarantees nothing by itself: there is more of this zone's wine on the market than the zone can yield. We do not claim that any particular bottle is fake or that any particular producer is at fault.
Wines of Usakhelouri
What the catalogue holds.
2 wines from Usakhelouri. The price on a card is the median across shops, or the lowest price where there is no median — a reference, not a rating.
