Vineyards: Vineyards were planted in mid 70s in the Mukuzani and adjacent to it areas – the best of Georgian wine regions and possibly one of the oldest as well as best wine growing regions in the world. The vines are treated only manually.
Soils: Sandy stony clay at 560 – 600 AMSL.
Yield: max 7-9 tons/ha, equivalent to 58 to 65 HL/ha.
Harvest: Harvest day is decided when the grapes are fully responding to the final wine style requirements. We pick the grapes only manually to ensure the highest quality.
History behind this Style: Georgians called these styles: wine “dedaze”, i.e. wine with/from a mother, thus determining that wine was crushed, fermented and macerated with and on skins.
Vinification : Depending on the year, grapes may be or may not be de-stemmed. Partial de-stemming may also be applied. Crushing is mostly avoided as well as we do not chill the must. Instead, we pick grapes very early and try to start wild fermentation at the natural temperature. The size of our QVEVRIs are from 900 to 2 500 L. This allows us to conduct wild fermentation at the soil temperature without peaking it too high, thus retaining the true characters of the year. Naturally started fermentation stops when wine is dry. From here we taste all the QVEVRIs and we fill up each individual ones from the selected ones leaving them full for the longest known maceration in the world – 5 to 6 months. Just before the bud burst in the nature, towards the spring on-set macerated wines are taken of their bottoms, which contain: Yeast lees, skins, seeds and sometimes stems. Wines are let to breathe, i.e. left in contact with air. Then, transferred back to QVEVRI or other containers for further clarification and style formation. Once the style has been reached, they go through preparations for bottling. Bottling is conducted under the highest standards. Wine is bottle-aged before the release for 5 to 6 months
The colour is amber with tawny hues. Aroma of mature and dry fruit balancing nutty, honey overtones. Very well-expressed, rich and harmonious body with strong, but pleasant tannic structure. Dried apricots so lavishly coupled with back tones of mature yellow plums. Plentiful taste is long and dry with memorable sensation. This wine has a true privileged taste and is from all of the tradition from the place regarded as the ‘Birthplace of Wine’ – Georgia.
Perfectly pairs with light meat like turkey, quail and pork, an array of seafood and Greek and French salads. It is an outstanding wine with spicy curries or Asian hot-sour flavors as well as varieties of Pizza.
Best enjoyed at about 8 – 10°C
Alcohol 13.5%
Winemaker
Lado Uzunashvili