Region: Kakheti
Grape: Saperavi
Viticulture: Organic
Vinification: Classic Georgian AMPHORA wine. Natural yeasts and low sulfur. Long skin contact.
Tasting: A burst of dark berries, cassis and pomegranate reduction. The second nose gives black tea, hibiscus, sweet earth, basil. The palate explodes with the dark berries, the tea continues through and gives a bitter tannin. Beautifully complex, dark, brooding wine.
Forget Burgundy, Bordeaux, Barolo and Brunello and keep it G: Georgia is the original homeland of wine. Archaeologists recently found traces of 8000 year old wine!
You won’t find oak barrels in Georgia. The Qvevri, or amphora, is the fermentation and vessel of choice. Here wines are made with extended skin contact is the traditional method of vinification for both red and white wines. That’s right, Georgia is the capital of Orange or Amber wine.
The Rkatsiteli from Pheasant’s Tears is a perfect introduction to Georgian wine. A native grape farmed organically in the historic wine region of Kakheti in Eastern Georgia, fermented and aged with skins in buried Qvevri with very little chemical intervention.
Pheasant’s Tears is the project of a rather inspiring American artist John Wurdeman, who originally visited the country to study the traditional monastic chant. In the end, it was the polyphony of Georgian varietals that captured his imagination.
The wine is exuberant.
The first nose gives explosive ripe pineapple, mango skin and saffron, but a whole other savoury dimension creeps quietly in after a few swirls. White tea leaves and even an umami seaweed element. There is a rusticity, a coarseness to the nose too, as though the tannins are prematurely announcing themselves. And the tannins are indeed powerful, thankfully so, after the first attack of sweet spiced pineapple. Raw, rustic, juicy, fresh. Vive la Géorgie.
Région: Kakheti
Grape: Rkatsiteli
Vini: Long skin contact in buried amphorae, natural fermentation.
Viti: Organics
Tasting: Ripe tropical fruit, juicy and bright, dry tannins.
Region: Kartli. A southeastern province bordering Armenia. Old wine territory. The capital city of Georgia, Tbilisi, lies in this territory.
Grapes: Chinuri
Vinification: Natural wine in the traditional clay Qvevri underground. Considerably less skin contact than most Georgian ‘white’ or ‘amber’ wines, though it is not a direct press. Spontaneous fermentation.
These are clay pots lines with beeswax, a very ancient vessel for fermentating and aging wine.
Tasting: Funky nose. Overripe bruised pear and apple (more like rotting fermenting fruit but we don’t need to tell people that). Dried herbs also. Minerality. Medium body palate, crisp but not particularly high acidity.
Damas Wine 