Name (also Kwewri, Quevri) for a bulbous wine vessel made of clay with a volume of up to 3,000 litres, which has been used for thousands of years in the Kakheti region of Georgia for a special form of vinification, the Kakheti process. The shape is very similar to the ancient amphorae. Such vessels are still used today for the production of mostly very rustic wines, for example for the fashionable Orange Wine. The shape, which tapers towards the bottom, makes it easier to bury them in sand or earth, where they remain during ageing. Very similar vessels are dolium (Roman), pithos (Greek), talha (Portuguese) and tinaja (Spanish). See also under wine vessels.
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