The flavor of quinine in wine of Kakheti
Discover the of Kakheti wines revealing the of quinine flavor during the olphactive analysis (nose) and during the gustative analysis (mouth).
Kakheti is the most important wine region in Georgia in quantitative, qualitative and even historic terms. Almost three-quarters of the country's wine Grapes are grown here, on land that has been used for viticulture for thousands of years.
Kakheti is home to some of the oldest human habitations in the entire Caucasus region, and archaeological findings have suggested that wine has been produced here for several thousand years. The region's strong relationship with wine and Vine was captured in Georgia's famous hymn 'Thou Art a Vineyard', written in the 12th Century by King Demetrius I.
A historical Georgian province, Kakheti is not an official administrative province in the modern day. Viniculturally speaking, the area is unofficially divided into several sub-regions, and even a number of microregions. This creates a huge variety of mesoClimates for viticulture with an equally large variety of grape varieties found throughout. The most significant of these Center around the villages of Tsinandali, Telavi, Gurajaani, Kvareli, Sagarejo and Sighnahi, which dot the banks of the Alazani River as it flows from the Caucasus Mountains to the Mingecevir reservoir in western Azerbaijan.
Kakheti has a transient continental climate with mild to subtropical temperatures as well as arid conditionds to Ample rainfall for viticulture. Predominately, viticultural areas have an arid climate with rainfall conserved to the winter months. Interestingly, in the particularly humid areas of Shida Kakheti, irrigation is required due to the high level of evapotranspiration. The nutrient-poor soils here are something of a trademark for viticulture as their discovery saw the early Georgian vignerons (as far back as 6000 BC) stumble across near-perfect Terroir millennia before the concept of terroir was formalized and given a name.
The Francs de Pied (Ungrafted Vines) group, which last met two weeks ago at Pasquet’s Liber Pater winery in the Graves, consists of a growing circle of vignerons who work with ungrafted vineyards planted to native varieties. The list includes Francs de Pied president Loïc Pasquet himself, vice-president Egon Müller (Mosel), and secretary Andrea Polidoro of Cupano (Montalcino) and Contrada Contro (Marche); as well as Gocha Chkhaidze of leading Georgian winery, Askaneli; Thibault Liger-Belair (Bur ...
I first contributed to Decanter back in November 1988; the hundreds of columns and articles I’ve written since constitute a journey of discovery. I squirm, though, if I’m described as a ‘wine expert’. Whatever wine knowledge we acquire quickly cools, congeals and crusts over, like custard or gravy, as the years pass. The wine world expands at a clip. Every vintage rewrites history. It’s the chance to share discoveries – not just about wines, but about people, places and the act of drinking itsel ...
In the last board meeting of 2021 for the regulatory council of DO Terra Alta, in Catalunya, Spain, a long list of changes was approved. The most prominent was the making of a very strict certification system for wines that are 100% Garnatxa Blanca given that it’s their flagship grape variety. But perhaps the most interesting item is a bit further down the list that allows certification for a type of wines that in Catalan are called “vins brisats”. The name refers to white wine ...