Wine Review: Georgian wines present a taste of the unknown

Last edited 1:35 p.m., Aug. 20, 2024 [Editor's note: The wine names have been updated.]

Did you know they make wine in Georgia? No, not our state of Georgia, but the eastern European country of Georgia that’s located just above Turkey to the west of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Not to burden the reader with a long-winded dissertation on ancient archaeology, but I will say that there is evidence of wine and winemaking in Georgia dating back to biblical times, over 8,000 years ago. Georgia is a nation that also possesses a multitude of indigenous grape varieties from which some interesting and enjoyable wines are made.

With the end of World War II and the communist takeover of many eastern European countries, any wine produced in those captive nations was mostly directed toward Russia and little, if any, ever came west. As a side tale, during the height of the Cold War, I had a bottle of Romanian Cotnari, a wine that was unavailable in the western world at that time, smuggled out of Romania for me in true cloak and dagger style by a friend who was visiting relatives there, as I had never tasted Cotnari and “I just had to know.”

Today, a selection of Georgian wines is currently available in this country, and I recently had an opportunity to sample some. I found the affordable wines were of excellent quality, and I must admit that I was impressed by those that I sampled. I also enjoyed the novelty of sampling wine made from grape varieties that I was totally unfamiliar with.

Teliani Glekhuri Saperavi Qvevri 2021 ($26)
If I may quote Mr. Spock of “Star Trek,” this wine is “fascinating.” It’s not a cabernet sauvignon, nor is it a pinot noir, but rather it’s a red wine made from the saperavi, a grape variety indigenous to Georgia that makes its own positive flavor and aroma statement. To bring out the flavors and aromas, this wine has been made by the ancient Georgian method of fermenting grapes that is called Qvevri and consists of using everything: grape juice, grape skins, vine stalks and even the pits. What results is a wine that offers the flavors and aromas of blackcurrant, fresh leather, plum, spicy notes and hints of dark chocolate. This is a red wine that I believe should be experienced.

Wine Alphabet Kisi White Wine 2022 ($30)
Tetra is an elegant white wine white and is a blend of the local kisi grape and the familiar chardonnay. The flavor and aroma can be best described as yellow fruit, yellow flowers in a yellow wine. The aroma is a basket of summer flowers while the flavor carries on with the yellow motif. Apricot and peach are the most obvious fruit flavors and are joined by a beautiful floral aroma. This is a white wine like no other and deserves to be put into a class by itself. It is also a wine that pairs well with salads, pasta dishes and cheeses.

Villa Chven Winery 2022 Tsolikouri ($27)
Again, it is the word yellow that can best be used to describe this wine as the aroma boldly displays a prominent yellow flower aroma, a strong yellow summer fruit flavor and a yellow fruit and flower finish. The Qvevri is a technique that has been abandoned by the rest of the winemaking world; however, in the case of this wine, it adds several interesting layers of flavor and aroma not often found in other wines. This wine is also an opportunity for a wine lover to time travel and experience what wine was like 8,000 years ago.

Wine columnist Bennet Bodenstein can be reached at frojhe1@att.net.