Grape Guide
Khikhvi
WhiteKhikhvi is a rare white grape native to Kakheti in eastern Georgia, with no more than a few dozen hectares planted. It goes into dry whites, amber qvevri wines and the occasional sweet bottling. Expect a full body and gentle acidity, with notes of box tree, orchard fruit and honey that grow richer with skin contact.
Key characteristics
- Indigenous to Kakheti, eastern Georgia
- Late budbreak and mid-season ripening, harvested in September
- Ripens to high sugar while holding on to its acidity
- Susceptible to powdery mildew; yields are conservative
- Planted on a few dozen hectares at most
Typical flavors
Major regions
Kakheti · Gurjaani (Kardenakhi), Sighnaghi (Tibaani) · Telavi · Akhmeta · Kvareli · Kartli
Also known as
Chichvi · Djananura · Janaani · Jananura (Telavi · Akhmeta) · Khichvi · Khikva
Khikhvi is a white-berried variety from Kakheti, the eastern Georgian province that holds most of the country's vineyards. It has never been widely planted. During the Soviet period it survived on a handful of state and collective farms, and today it is a niche bottling for estates interested in Georgia's lesser-known native varieties. It is usually sold as a single-variety wine, and sometimes blended with Kisi or Mtsvane Kakhuri.
In the glass the variety pairs generous ripeness with gentle acidity. Bunches reach high sugar levels while holding some freshness, which suits dry wines as well as the sweeter styles made in small zones such as Kardenakhi. Fermented on skins in qvevri, Khikhvi turns amber to deep gold and shows dried apricot, orange peel, honey and ginger, with mineral and floral tones behind. Made without skin contact, it is lighter in colour and more floral, with a soft, round texture.
Khikhvi is regarded as indigenous to Kakheti, and neither the origin of the vine nor the meaning of its name is settled. No published DNA study naming its parents or siblings turned up in the sources consulted, so its parentage should be treated as unresolved. Georgian ampelographers have proposed that Khikhvi, Mtsvane Kakhuri, Chitistvala and Rkatsiteli may descend from a shared ancestral stock, or may be differentiated natural seedlings, but this remains a hypothesis and not a demonstrated relationship. Claims that the variety was documented in the fifth century AD have no supporting evidence.
Local naming follows geography. In Telavi and Akhmeta it is called Jananura, after the village of Janaani (today named Ojio), while in Gurjaani and Signagi the name Khikhvi is used. Older foreign ampelographic literature listed it as Khikva, and it was reported in Moldova and Ukraine, though those records are old and unconfirmed by current surveys.
Plantings have always been small. Georgian statistics put the area at about 16 ha in 1940 and 57.5 ha by 1953, mostly on farms in Kakheti and Meskheti, with under 2 ha recorded in Racha-Lechkhumi. Estimates are scattered, but one major reference puts it at about 20 ha nationally, so the variety remains close to a rarity.
The vine has large, rounded, three-lobed leaves. Bunches are small to medium, conical, often winged and loosely filled, carrying medium-sized greenish-yellow berries with thin skins. Budbreak is late, normally in the first half of April, and ripening is mid-season, with harvest in September. Yields are conservative. The berries accumulate high sugar while retaining acidity, which gives growers latitude to pick for dry wine or to leave fruit for sweeter styles. The variety is susceptible to powdery mildew, so canopy management and an effective spray programme matter. Cooler, higher-elevation sites are recommended for it, since they help preserve freshness and aromatic lift in the finished wine.
Most Khikhvi is vinified as a dry white in one of two ways. The European approach, with the juice fermented off the skins, gives a full-bodied, softly acidic wine with box-tree, white-flower and orchard-fruit character at moderate alcohol. The traditional Georgian approach ferments the fruit with its skins in buried clay qvevri, often for several months; the results are amber or orange wines with dried apricot, orange peel, honey, beeswax and ginger, a mineral core and a long, earthy finish. Some producers add a short oak ageing stage after qvevri fermentation.
Sweet wines are a minor but established use, associated with the Kardenakhi micro-zone, where very ripe, high-sugar fruit goes into a deep yellow fortified dessert wine. Khikhvi is also used in blends, where it contributes softness and aroma, notably alongside Kisi and Mtsvane Kakhuri.
Where it grows
Kakheti
The heartland of the variety, with most plantings on the right bank of the Alazani River in the east and south-east of the province. Production comes from a few small estates and family wineries.
Gurjaani and Kardenakhi
Gurjaani is one of the districts where the variety goes by the name Khikhvi, and the village of Kardenakhi is the classic source of its dessert wine.
Tibaani
A village in the Sighnaghi area where Pheasant's Tears makes an organic qvevri Khikhvi from whole bunches kept on skins for months.
Telavi and Akhmeta
Here the variety is known as Jananura. At least one Akhmeta producer bottles single-variety Khikhvi from certified organic vineyards.
Kvareli
Small plantings supply qvevri wines with dried fruit and honeysuckle character.
Kartli
Minor plantings exist in this central province, well outside the Kakhetian base.