Telavi wine cellar, Satrapezo, 10 Qvevri, 2020, Georgia
Tbilvino, Khvanchkara from Georgia is an interesting red wine, its meant to be sweet but personally I think its medium red but what really hits you is the jaminess and red fruit, its got a massive amount of flavour, redcurrant, strawberry, cherry, its amazing the amount in there.
I had this over a few evenings and it did grow on me, apparently Stalin enjoyed this wine!
Tbilvino, Khvanchkara, 2016, Georgia
This dry red wine is made with Saperavi grapes, from vineyards around the Alaverdi monastery in Georgia. Now Georgian wine is decent stuff, more so than you may think. They have been making wine long enough.
This got a Bronze medal from the Decanter International Wine Awards and that’s a good solid score. There’s aromas of black and red fruit on the nose, Blackberry, cherry, tobacco on the nose and the flavours. Its medium body and has a good wack of tannins. I guzzled most of this on its own so not complaints. At about £30 a bottle in the UK its one of the more expensive wines from the area but its pretty decent. I do have an issue with the price though. NZ Pinot Noir or Burgundy red while a little light would be far better at this price point. South American reds are better still at this price.
Badagoni, Alaverdi Tradition, Saperavi grape from Georgia
Made with Saperavi grapes the first thing notice is the smell, quite distinctive, huge amounts of blackcurrant and yet this deeply dark red wine has initial flavours of red fruit. Theres the redcurrant but some herb , raspberry and strawberry in there as well. It’s dry and the tannins are not too heavy, although I would like them to be smoother. I understand that the Saperavi wines can be aged and I would like to taste when it’s over 6 years old to see if those tannins softened.
I’ve had a few bottles of Georgian wine now and I think I can safely say that the quality is very good, it may not be to cru standards of France but I did have this over three nights and enjoyed this very much.
At about £10 it’s reasonable value.
Teliani Valley, Saperavi 2016, Georgia.
You can get some very nice wine from Georgia but I’ll be blunt,t is not one of them. Very rare will I throw a glass of wine away but in this case I threw the bottle away.
It was very one-dimensional with very jammy fruit, thought I might as as well being eating black currant jam straight from the jar. I can’t say if the issue was with the grape – Saperavi, or there was an error when making this wine. Sorry but one really to avoid.
Marani Kindzmarauli from Georgia