Grape Guide
Kisi
WhiteKisi is a white grape native to Kakheti in eastern Georgia, where it nearly disappeared before growers revived it from the 1990s onward. It makes two distinct wines: a floral, pear-scented dry white in a modern cellar style, and a darker, apricot-toned amber wine fermented with its skins in clay qvevri.
Key characteristics
- Indigenous to Kakheti, eastern Georgia
- Late budding and mid ripening
- Clusters run small to medium in size, with open, airy structure and berries whose skins are thin
- Sensitive to climate and disease, and demanding to grow
- Parentage unresolved: the Mtsvane and Rkatsiteli cross suggested earlier was refuted by DNA analysis
Typical flavors
Major regions
Kakheti (Georgia) · Akhmeta district · Telavi district · Kvareli district
Also known as
Kissi · Maghranuli
Kisi is among the most aromatic of Georgia's white grapes. In a clean, temperature-controlled style it gives a pale wine with an intense floral lift and flavours of dried pear and apple, a profile that can read as slightly sweet on the nose even when the wine is fully dry. Acidity is moderate and the texture is gentle, so it suits early drinking and fresh, unoaked handling.
The same fruit behaves differently in qvevri, the buried clay vessels of Georgian tradition. Fermented on its skins, often for months, Kisi turns amber and picks up apricot, honey, walnut, mint and orange-peel notes, with a firmer grip from skin contact. It remains a small-volume variety, usually bottled alone by boutique producers or used to add perfume to blends with Rkatsiteli or Mtsvane Kakhuri.
Kisi is indigenous to Kakheti, the wine heartland of eastern Georgia, and it is also spelled Kissi. Its exact age is not documented, and claims of a very early origin remain unverified. For some time it was listed in the Vitis International Variety Catalogue as a cross of a Mtsvane and Rkatsiteli, an idea that fits its growth habit but that DNA profiling later disproved. Its true parents are still unidentified, so it is best treated as an old local cultivar of the Georgian gene pool.
The variety suffered through the twentieth century. Difficult viticulture, vulnerability to fungal disease and yields below those of Rkatsiteli led growers to abandon it, and by the early 2000s it survived mainly in a few old plots around Telavi, Kvareli and Akhmeta. Interest in qvevri winemaking and in indigenous varieties then brought it back into propagation. Reported plantings have risen sharply from a very low base, although the variety still accounts for only a small part of the Georgian crop, and published area statistics are sparse. A count of about 50 ha in Kakheti in 2008 gives the order of magnitude for the period before the revival gathered pace.
Kisi buds late, which gives some protection against spring frost, and ripens in the middle of the season. Bunches are small to medium and loose, and the berries have thin skins. These traits help against rot in humid spells but leave the fruit exposed to damage in wet or hot weather. The variety is described as very sensitive to climate, and it is widely regarded as difficult to grow, with lower and less regular yields than Rkatsiteli. Susceptibility to powdery mildew and black rot is reported, and the near loss of the variety during phylloxera and later disease pressure is part of the local account of its decline. Careful site choice, canopy management and sanitary selection of planting material therefore matter more than with Georgia's sturdier workhorse varieties.
Two main approaches are used. The modern European style is picked fresh, pressed off the skins and fermented cool in stainless steel, giving a pale, dry, aromatic white with floral perfume, pear and apple, and clean moderate acidity. Producers such as Winiveria have worked in this mould. The traditional Georgian style ferments whole bunches or destemmed fruit with skins, and often stems, in qvevri, sometimes for six months or more before the wine is racked. The result is amber, with ripe apricot, honey, walnut, mint and orange notes, along with noticeable tannin. Pheasant's Tears and Teliani Valley are among the houses bottling qvevri Kisi. The grape also contributes perfume to blends with Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane Kakhuri, a use that predates single-variety bottlings and remains common in Kakheti.
Where it grows
Kakheti
The only significant region, in eastern Georgia. Kisi is established in the districts of Telavi, Kvareli and Akhmeta.
Akhmeta district
Local accounts place Kisi along the Telavi to Akhmeta line, in villages such as Ikalto, Ruispiri and Khodasheni, and small estates in the Akhmeta district, including Lekso's Marani, bottle it, often blended with Rkatsiteli.
Telavi and Kvareli
Named in older records as places where the variety survived through its low point. Plantings are small and mostly managed by family cellars and boutique producers.
Outside Georgia
Kisi has no meaningful commercial plantings beyond its homeland. Wines from it reach export markets mainly as qvevri bottlings sold by natural and specialist importers.