Milbrae, south San Francisco
All these women winemakers from Georgia were also pouring their wines at Brumaire and if my carelessness in managing my time made that I missed them there, at least i could correct this misstep the following day thanks to a private tasting organized by Alex (pictured above in the background)
in his Vineyard Gate wine shop in Milbrae in South San Francisco.
The wine shop which was closed that day (monday) is just a couple of minutes on foot from the BART station. The man who helped these winemakers attend was there too, Chris Terrell, he is the importer at New York-based Terrell Wines. Like the linked article implies, if you had a Georgian wine in New York, there's a good chance it came in through Chris Terrell who imports 22 family wineries from Georgia. I learnt something interesting also in this linked article, Chris first discovered Georgia by cycling through the country in 2004, this was before he was dealing with wine; we have something in common (I also cycled through eastern and western Europe and the U.S.)
Georgia has gone through rising export levels in the last few years (export statistics here), with Russia still leading by large, then much behind, Ukraine and China. But the wines to these 3 countries are mostly conventional wines while what we're dealing with here is a niche of natural, organic traditional Georgian wines using qvevri, the large clay vessels known here since Antiquity. This article (from a conventional perspective) points to the growing importance of the Chinese market through the return of its silk road policy; it states that the natural wine exports for the West is a minor phenomenon but i think it has huge potential to grow in the long term, as all the countries (including Russia & China one day) will have a sizeable percentage of their wine public turning to uncorrected wines.
We first tasted a few rosé from Georgian winemaker Ketevan Ninidze of Oda Family Winery (located in the town of Martvili), which is planted mainly with Ojalesih and a bit of Tchvitiluri, all these rosés had a beautiful and exciting color that made you salivate. Oda is the name of a traditionnal house in
western Georgia and they themselves live in such a century-old house near which they have a small vineyard. This Samegrelo region was in the past a vibrant wine producing area but it has plummeted for different historical reasons and today only a few producers remain. She and her family were living originally in Tbilisi and moved
there in the early 2010s' planted vineyards and had their first vintage in 2015.
__ Naked Ojaleshi 2017. Small part of skin maceration (one month long), about 15 kilograms used for this cuvée, for a total of 300 liters, wine aged 6 months in qvevri (named by the way churi in western Georgia, and they're smaller there, 300 liters instead of 1000) Delicious rosé (and I'm not always open to rosé wines), with a super umami feel in the mouth. Wholeness feel.
__ Oberluri Ojaleshi 2017. Same type of partial skin maceration, 15 kilograms on a total of 300 liters (the volume of a churi) The color is magic, first thing to say, amber with hard to describe reflections, and it's turbid. Notes of berlingot candy in the mouth, very nice.
__ Dzelshavi 2017 with on the label not a tiny warning sign for pregnant womenn but a drawing on the whole label featuring a pregnant woman... Darker type of rosé. Lightly fizzy, more substance, also with a candy feel in the mouth.
__ Krakhuna 2017, single-variety white from Vino M'Artville Winery near Martvili, her husband's winery, she says his father
was a great grower and he focuses on the rare varieties of Western Georgia. Grapes sourced in Imereti region, 20 % of the skins are used for a one-month maceration, no stems and 7-month élevage in a qvevri (1000 liters). Exciting color, like honey and wheat, turbid. Watery feel in the mouth, not in the bad sense, so gentle, feels so true and whole, lots of harmony here. 9,8 % alcohol only. Easy drink. No added SO2 like for her own wines, only occasional use of sulfur wick in the vessels.
__ Aladasturi 2017, light red variety from Georgia, sourced in the Guria region. The name of the variety has an interesting story, it comes from the time the region was occupied by the muslims, and to get around the mahometan interdiction against alcohol it was named "approved by Allah" with probably the agreement of the invaders who liked the drink... Light-bodied wine, nice color in the glass. 100 % skin maceration for a month and 6 months in qvevri. Expressive wine on the nose.Super nice peppery mouth, fresh and chalky tannins, love it ! Very akin to Pineau d'Aunis for me, and alcohol only 9,2 %. Imported in Japan by Diony.
__ Orbeluri Ojaleshi 2017, a red made with maceration of al the skins for one months then 6 months in qvevri. A bit darker. Nose is meaty, very appealing. Wow, classy red-type mouth, elegant. 11,3 % alcohol. Subtle, light fizziness here on the tongue.
Next we tasted the wines of Ének Peterson (winery : Freya's Marani) a young American who settled in Georgia a few years ago for music and dance and ended up making wine there (this is her 3rd vintage). Enek speaks fluently several languages including French, she's partly Hungarian (her first name means song in Hungarian) and is very active on several fronts : She's the one who manages Vino Underground, a wine bar in Tbilisi founded by 8 vignerons and she tends her vineyard on the side in Baghdati (Imereti region).
__ Tsolikouri & Krakhuna (varieties picked together), qvevri sample 2018, a white with skin contact with the stems (it's still on the skins right now !), which is not usual in the Imereti region because the stems there often don't ripe all the way.. Mouth with a nice structure, very classy white, thin integrated tannins. Alex loves the tannin here too, very unusual white. Very flexible, can go with lots of food.
Marina Kurtanidze is married to Iago Bitarishvili of Iago's Winery whom I met in Paris but she is a winemaker herself, her winery being named simply Marina like her first name, she began I think to make wine in 2012, encouraged by her husband Iago. I'm told she was the 1st Georgian woman winemaker that exported natural wine abroad through a winery project named Mandili (a cuvée she made with another woman). Enek who speaks Georgian translates what she says about her work : She shares the same cellar than her husband but vinifies in separate qvevri and makes her own decisions.
__ Mtsvane 2017, a variety from eastern Georgia, the wine is made like typically in eastern Georgia with 6-month skin contact and the stems as well in a qvevri. This is a white with an amber color and golden reflections, these Georgian whites just look so exciting before you even got a sip ! Mouth : one of these out-of-this-world whites. Great grip on the sides of the mouth, quite an experience. Iago's wines were also just terrific if I remember this tasting event in Paris where I met him.
Ketevan Berishvili made her first vintage in 2015, she is the daughter of winemaker Kakha Berishvili and her brand name is Gogo Wine, she works in the Kakheti region, with white varieties while her father makes reds. 2017 is her first vintage,
she vinified the wine herself even if she of course learnt the trade with her father who has been
making wine for 15 years (starting to sell his wine in bottles only in 2008), and her father helps her in the vineyard.
__ Cuvée Bébé, Rkatsiteli with Mtsvane 2017, a white blend, part skin contact (7 months for the Rkatsiteli) , part crushed and pressed by feet, the traditional way in Georgia, a very hard job that takes hours, the juice falling directly to the qvevri. Then you have to remove all the skins and stems by hand which is very hard. Named Cuvée bébé because she had her daughter that year (his partner by the way helps her since her first harvest).
Grip on the tongue, superb resonance along the thoat, beautiful, goes down in glory. Clor : honey, turbid, the wine is unfiltered, and no sulfites added. The harvest this year was earlier, mid september. This bottles sells for 22 $ retail.
__ A red, her father's : Kakha Berishvili 2017 (his first name), the name of the winery is Artanuli Gvino. Saperavi variety, 10 days on skins. Dark red, quite concentrated, refined tannins, quite powerful.
Next, Tamuna Bidzinashvili (imported by Roni Selects) created her winery (named Kortavebis Marani, Marani means cellar in Georgian) in 2014 in the Kakheti region, they did not have land and they planted vineyard, starting making wine with contracted grapes, the planted vineyard beginning to yield fruit along the years; now 60 % of the grapes they vinify come from their own vineyard which has a
surface of 2,5 hectares. In front of their cellar they planted 35 varieties together, making a plot that
is some sort of library, and they press them all together.
__ Tamuna's Wine, Kiss 2018, a qvevri sample (will be bottled in a year), grapes crushed and then 5-month maceration on skins. Light, golden color, not turbid. Super interesting mouth, also out of this world in its own style. Very elegant type of astringency, you need to try this ! 22 $ retail.
__ White blend 2018 made with Kakhasi Mtsvane, Kissi and Mtsvivani (purchased grapes), a sample from the qvevri. Will have spent 6 or 7 months in skin contact at the end. Alcohol more forward maybe here.
__ Rosé, made with 2 whites and 1 red (Saperavi). Purchased grapes. Astringency. Good with Asian food I think, unusual tannin here.
__ 35 complanted varieties on 0,5 hectare, picked together and pressed, no skin contact here. Makes me think to these traditional Jura cuvées like Cuvée Corail, with botyh white and red varieties planted en foule. They picked 800 kg of grapes on that half hectare. Very fruity wine and tannin is moderate. 10,5 % alcohol, nice wine.
__ Saperavi 2017, a red. Dark type of red. Very concentrated and focused, aromatics on the sweet spices range. She says they take out the seeds with a machine to avoid getting excessive tannin from them. Astringency.
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