In struggle against Arab occupation, ruler of the Tzanaria, Grigol (possible descendant from Bagrationi dynasty) seized control over Kakheti and established a chorepiscopate, a bishopric-duchy, ruled by a prince and chorepiscopus, with one member of the feudal nobility combining both roles.

Grigol held power until 827: hoping to rule all Georgia, aided by mountaineers and the Arab emir of Tbilisi, he invaded Inner Iberia (Shida Kartli), but was repulsed by Ashot I Kuropalates, a prince of the resurgent Bagratid dynasty of Tao-Klarjeti, and its ally Theodosius II of Abkhazia, east of the Ksani River.

The next Arab punitive expedition led by Bugha the Turk (853–54), managed to kill the emir of Tbilisi, but lost the battle to the Kakhetians, and retreated.

whose reign was spent in a continuous struggle against the expansionism of the kings of Abkhazia who ruled over a significant portion of western and central Georgia and aimed at conquering Kakheti.

After Leon's death during one of his incursions into Kakheti II (969), Kvirike capitalized on the dynastic feud in the Kingdom of Abkhazia to reassert his full authority and even expand his possessions to the west.

In 976, Kvirike II invaded Kartli (central Georgia), captured the city of Uplistsikhe and took captive the Georgian Bagratid prince Bagrat who was intended by his powerful foster-father David of Tao to seat on the thrones of Iberia and Abkhazia.

In response, David marshaled an army to punish Kvirike and forced him to withdraw from Kartli and release Bagrat, who would later inherit Kingdom of Georgia and proceed to press a claim to Kakheti and annexed it in or around 1010, after two years of fighting and aggressive diplomacy.

Around 1029, Kvirike III defeated an invasion force led by the Alan king Urdure who had crossed the Caucasus Mountains into Kakheti and ravaged Tianeti.

[3][4] The last Arevmaneli ruler, Kvirike III had died without male heir and his sister's son Gagiki succeeded in restoring monarchy by the support of Kakhetian nobility in 1039; thus becoming the first Kuirikid monarch of the Kakheti.

In 1068, Aghsartan submitted to the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan, agreed to pay tribute, and secured the Turkish support against King Bagrat IV of Georgia who had seized part of the Kakhetian territory.

However, when George II made peace with the sultan early in the 1080s, the latter recognized the king of Georgia as the only legitimate master of Kakheti and gave him a Seljuk force to conquer the region.

In 1105, Aghsartan was arrested by his vassals, the princes Areshiani of Hereti, and handed over to King David IV of Georgia who finally annexed the kingdom to Unified Georgian realm.