The last time I tasted the Khareba wines, I was standing in the winery's chilly cellars in the Alazani Valley on a boiling hot August afternoon. The winery and its almost 8 kilometers (five miles) of tunnels are carved into the Caucasus Mountains, like a bunker. I appreciated the inadvertent symbolism, as Russian troops just over the Georgian border recently had been seen patrolling. However, deep in the earth, the wines were cool and safe. 

So, it was a pleasure to remember that tasting while popping the corks on three bottles of the 11 different labels that the winery is looking to export to the USA. (There are three other wineries in addition to the one that I visited.) This winery has a young, ambitious winemaker, Vladimer Kublashvili, and an impressively well-meshed combination of modern and ancient winemaking techniques that both use ISO 9001 and ISO 22000 quality management systems. The results are distinctly Georgian wines - all the more so with these native varieties, though the winery does also produce wines from Western European varieties.

91
Khareba 2015 Saperavi Classical 14% $15
This wine's bouquet is all about power. It blasts boldness. Premium cut, roasted meat is its primary characteristic. That is followed by a strong iron-like note accompanied by leather. Then comes along plenty of fruit. Bramble and mulberry meld with elderberry and sloe. In fact, it's a pretty raucous mash up of über-ripe fruits. The finish brings on flavors of toasted oak: milk chocolate, toasted graham cracker and touches of smokiness. The acidity is vigorous and well-placed to balance the ample body. The tannins offer a light bitterness, but they are rather subtle in light of the sassy acidic refreshment. The finish lingers with excellent intensity. Though 4.5 years old, this has a long and enjoyable road ahead. Given its intense flavor concentration, it should be a while before this even begins to evolve much. The wine definitely over-delivers for its price point!
Drink: 2020-25 

88
Khareba 2010 Tsitska Qvevri 12.5% $27
Extremely deep gold in color, this is an unusual wine for sure. It's not just a qvevri wine, it's an older one. Like most qvevri fermented whites, this is not a wine to taste too cold. At a refrigerated, white temperature, the wine feels tight and disjointed, like it has been shoved into a poor-fitting compression sock. I found it best around cellar temperature (about 55° F, or 14° C).  

After all, its light chewiness and whisper of seamless tannins make it feel more like a red wine. Additionally, the combination of its chunky core and broad shoulders feels far more full body than the 12.5% noted on the back label. Also, the alcohol is noticeable but not distracting. At cellar temperature, the rounded, sleek and satiny texture equalizes nicely with the noticeably moderate acidity. The palate feel turns candle waxy on the savory finish, helping clean up the palate. Aroma-wise, the wine is reserved, even when warmed to room temperature. Looking very hard, even on the second and third days after opening, I found drying sunflowers, toasted almonds, saffron fronds and dried yellow plums. This is a wine for richer poultry dishes or even veal. It's dense, sultry and mouthcoating. Drinking well now, there's no need to wait any longer for this ten-year-old wine. While it holds over two days, its energy is spent by the third day.
Drink: 2020-23 

86
Khareba 2017 Krakhuna 12.5% $15
I tasted this wine over two days and it showed incredibly different both times, almost exactly 24 hours apart.  

Day One: the wine is citrusy and a bit tight. There is a slightly candied note with tropical fruit flavors, like passion fruit and lightly ripe pineapple. The finish is brief and hollow, but the acidity is refreshing and pleasant. It's a good wine for quaffing and for light bites.

Day Two: the wine turns from a fresh and frisky pale yellow to a deep yellow. (It was stoppered with a VaccuVin and placed into the refrigerator with 1/3 of the bottle remaining.) The wine tastes sweet with citrus fruit - pomelo, yellow grapefruit and - definitely - yuzu. Its upfront impact is head-turning, but it's disappointing that, save some shreds of minerality, the flavor still falls off quickly. That noted, this light- to moderate-bodied wine is well-balanced and works nicely at the table given its lightly pithy finish.
Drink: 2020-21