Kisi: Georgia's Aromatic White That Trades Sugar for Grip

Kisi is pronounced KEE-see.

If you love how a Gewurztraminer smells but wish it finished dry, Kisi is the bottle you have been looking for.

It comes from Kakheti, Georgia's eastern wine heartland, and it carries the same loud floral perfume that makes aromatic whites easy to love. The difference is what happens after the first sniff. Where Gewurztraminer often leans sweet and soft, Kisi tends to stay dry and, in its traditional form, grows a texture you can feel. That combination is rare, and it is why this grape is worth learning to say out loud.

What it tastes like

Start with the aromatics, because that is where Kisi announces itself: apricot, white peach, pear, honey, and wildflowers, with a chamomile note underneath. The acidity is moderate rather than sharp, so the fruit feels rounded instead of tart.

Then there are two Kisis, and the split matters.

The fresh style, fermented in steel, is the friendlier one. It reads as a dry, perfumed white with stone fruit and honeyed edges, and it behaves like a slightly more exotic Pinot Gris.

The amber style is the one Georgia is known for. Kisi has a thick skin, and when it ferments on those skins in clay, it turns golden-amber and picks up orange peel, dried fruit, walnut, beeswax, and a long, faintly bitter almond finish. It also gains a tannic grip you almost never find in an aromatic white. That grip is the whole point, and it is also the thing that divides people.

Made in clay, and why that changes everything

The traditional vessel here is the qvevri, a large egg-shaped clay pot buried underground and used in Georgia for thousands of years. Winemakers ferment the juice on skins, stems, and all inside it, then seal it and let time do the work. UNESCO recognizes the method as cultural heritage, which is a polite way of saying people have been doing this since long before the barrel existed.

Skin contact is what turns a white grape amber. The skins hand over color, tannin, and savory depth, so a qvevri Kisi behaves more like a light red than a conventional white. If you have only met "orange wine" as a trendy bottle at a natural wine bar, this is the older, more serious version of the same idea.

Kisi nearly disappeared. During the Soviet push for high-yield vineyards, diversity was flattened and Kisi was reduced to a handful of old vines. Its comeback is the work of small growers who decided a nearly-lost native grape was worth more than an easy crop.

Bottles to look for

A few Kakhetian producers have built the modern reputation of this grape, and their names are your best search terms. Pheasant's Tears is the widely exported reference point and makes a benchmark amber Kisi. Shalauri Cellars and Telavi Wine Cellar are also names to watch on a label or an importer list.

Rooting for a grape like this is not nostalgia for its own sake. It is a bet that the wine world is more interesting when a variety pulled back from the edge of extinction gets a fair hearing. Here is the honest part: amber Kisi is polarizing. The grip and that bitter-almond finish read as strange if you came expecting a crisp, easy pour, and there is no established critic score to anchor your expectations yet. Trust the producer, not a number, and if you want the gentler introduction, start with a fresh steel-fermented bottle before you commit to the clay.

Where to buy

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Kisi is findable in the US but not everywhere, and it lives mostly with importers and retailers who specialize in Georgian and skin-contact wine rather than on the average grocery shelf. Search by grape and by the producers above, and check whether a bottle is the fresh or the amber style before you buy.

browse Kisi on Wine.com →

— Chris Berry

If you're switching from a famous grape

If Gewurztraminer is your comfort white, Kisi is the natural next step: the same aromatic, floral character, but dry, with texture where Gewurztraminer often gives you sugar. You keep the perfume and gain a grip. See Wines Like Gewurztraminer for the full swap, and Order This Instead for the short version.

Part of Lesser-Known Wines: 17 Obscure Grapes Worth Switching To — the full underdog-swap guide.