“Wine Thieves” emerged victorious at DECANTER 2023, securing gold and bronze medals for their exceptional wines. The 2021 Saferavi claimed the gold medal with an impressive score of 95 points, while the 2021 Kisi earned the bronze medal with 89 points.
Zaza Asatiani, one of the founders and managing partners of Wine Thieves, expressed that these prestigious accolades serve as a gateway to explore new markets for the company.
“”DECANTER is the number one wine competition in the world. There are several other prestigious competitions, for example, IWSC, we participated in several last years and won silver and bronze medals. But more than DECANTER marks a qualitatively new stage for our company. The gold medal is very important – it’s a new key, on a new market.”
The future looks promising for Wine Thieves as they plan to scale up their production. In 2022, the company manufactured approximately 50,000 bottles of wine. Notably, 90% of their wine is destined for international markets, with Norway and France serving as their primary export destinations. However, they are actively diversifying and venturing into new territories. Following their success in Norway and France, Poland has been identified as the next major market. This expansion initiative entails a 30% increase in production to meet escalating demand.
“Wine thieves” wine company was established in 2016. At first, it was a hobby of three friends. Our first production was a few hundred bottles. Then this work dragged all three of us slowly because we were all working in different directions. Today, our main activity is wine.
The first time we appeared on the market, we used a naked woman with a cup on the label, which caused a great stir at the time. This is a drawing by the famous British illustrator Owen Gent, who we asked for permission to use. Owen Gent agreed and today is our friend and illustrator of our wine labels.”
The ethos of Wine Thieves revolves around championing the finest offerings from small, family-owned wineries and promoting traditional, natural wines in highly competitive global markets. It is for this reason that Wine Thieves consciously opted out of the Russian market from the outset. Today, their wines enjoy successful retail presence in premier wine shops across Tbilisi, as well as in France and Norway. Looking ahead, Wine Thieves envisions expanding their export footprint to encompass Poland, Great Britain, and the United States.
By Mariam Gorkhelashvili
