This week we explore of the country of Georgia and it’s unique and amazing wines.
Wine Recommendations
Dila-o Rkatsiteli-Mtsvane 2016 – priced around $16.
- This is an Amber or “Orange” wine style, but made in a lighter style with only 1 month of skin contact. It is a perfect introduction to the style.
- Aromas of honey, tropical fruits like melon and apricots, spice and white flowers
- It’s dry with light body, light tannins, medium plus acidity and flavors of lemon drop, white flowers, apricots and slightly herbal
- Great acidity so it will be awesome with food
- It has the sour beer quality to it that we often get from orange wine
- Food pairings: Salads, Salmon and Poultry
Tchotiashvili Vineyards Mtsvane 2015 – priced around $28.
- Another orange wine but this one is a very deep amber color
- Aromas of honey, juniper, dried apricots and cigar ash
- This wine is dry with medium plus tannins and acid – the most tanninc non-red wine we ever had
- Flavors of meat (hot dog water?), dried herbs, hint of apricot with eucalyptus on the finish
- If you were blind tasting this wine, you might not know it was wine at all – the combination of flavors and tannins levels really confused us
- We’ve used the the phase “never had a wine like this before”, it hasn’t been more true than in regards to this wine
- It paired really well with southwest inspired roasted corn salad we made
- Decant and enjoy lightly chilled
Tchotiashvili Vineyards Saperavi 2015 – priced around $28.
- A deep purple colored wine with aromas of blackberry jam, coriander, dust and mint
- It’s dry with medium tannin and acid, full body with flavors of fresh blackberry and grilled meaty/savory component
- We argued whether this wine was more fruity or savory, Betty compared it to Zin
- It’s fresher in the taste than the nose and it’s bold and complex but still approachable
Sources:
- Book: The World Atlas of Wine
- Wines of Georgia
- Wine-Searcher
- Wikipedia