Dear Georgian Wine enthusiast,
Our first newsletter of 2010 is all about Orovela.
The Georgian Wine Society’s Orovela Saperavi is currently wine of the
month on Paul Howard’s website Wine Alchemy (www.winealchemy.com), and has
been added to the wine list of such culinary meccas as Heston Blumenthal’s
Fat Duck and Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley.
With two new wines from this winery shortly to be added to our website, we
thought it was time to catch up with vineyard owner Gia Sulkhanishvili and
chief winemaker Lado Uzunashvili, to find out the secrets behind their
“Super Georgians.”
Orovela – “Less is more.”
Many agree on saperavi’s status as a world-
been referring to saperavi as a “world beater” for years. Simplicity is
therefore key to the Orovela winemaking philosophy.
“80% of the work that goes into a wine should be done by the vine,” says
Gia. “Our main principle is to reveal the best characteristics of each
grape variety in the best terroir for growing them. We are not trying to
reinvent the wheel.”
Sulkhanishvili’s family has a long-
Chandrebi Estate which produces Orovela belonged to his family prior to
the Soviet Union, and when land in Georgia was re-
to buy it back. Gia’s love of the vineyard was established at an early
age: “I had a passion for the vineyard from childhood because my family
even during Soviet rule managed to keep a small vineyard going, to
continue the family winemaking traditions.”
The Chandrebi Estate is located on the right bank of the Alazani River in
Kakheti, Georgia’s main wine region. Its location between the Tsiv Gombori
and Caucasus mountains leads to a drier climate than other areas of
Kakheti, with the cool air favoured by Saperavi and Mtsvane grapes flowing
down off the mountains during the growing season.
The “Super Georgian”
Orovela’s wines have coined a new phrase in the wine writer’s glossary:
“super-
the super-
the people at Orovela have no intention of breaking with tradition:
“There is no other country with a similar history and diversity as
Georgia, and this advantage has to be utilized in the best way,” says
Lado. This “best way” involves state of the art winemaking technology,
used within a framework that remains faithful to Georgian winemaking
traditions and indigenous grape varieties.
The “Super-
referring to the quality of a broad range of new, premium Georgian wines
emerging from the country, and not as signalling a fracture with Georgia’s
past.
Wine of the Month: The Orovela mixed half-
Orovela is now extending its range, adding a cabernet-
mtsvane-
to the Orovela name.
The classic Orovela Saperavi (2004 vintage -
ruby colour, with black mulberry, blackberry and cherry flavours. Aged in
French and American oak for 12 months it has a lovely velvety tannin and
vanilla aroma, without the oak ever becoming overpowering.
The new Cabernet-
same understated quality as the Saperavi, but is fresher and fruitier,
with more supple tannins, thanks to a blend of 92% saperavi and 8%
cabernet sauvignon (another grape with a long history in Georgia) and
shorter oak aging (it is aged in French and American oak for 8 months).
The third wine got us really excited. Orovela Cuvee Chandrebi Mtsvane
Rkatsiteli (2007 -
with 15% rkatsiteli, combining the fragrance of the mtsvane with the
fuller body of the rkatsiteli. The resulting wine is deliriously good:
golden in colour, yellow plum, hints of tropical fruit... Its aroma
reminded some of us of Muscat dessert wines, others thought its taste was
reminiscent of a rich Riesling. Whatever it resembled, we finished the
bottle far too quickly.
To celebrate the arrival of these new wines, and to allow you to sample a
group of wines at the forefront of Georgian winemaking, we have put
together the Orovela mixed half-
the three wines above. The half case costs £75.54 (plus £9.99 postage and
packaging) -
just send an email to orders@georgianwinesociety.co.uk to reserve your
half-
Best wishes,
Chris Bowling
The Georgian Wine Society
chrisbowling@georgianwinesociety.co.uk