Saperavi. Or Georgia's wine legacy

I don't know exactly when I became passionate about the Saperavi variety, but I was always fascinated by Georgia. Most sources say that this is where the oldest traces of wine production in the world were discovered (5000 BC) and this is where my curiosity about Georgian wines started.

I remember enjoying once a Saperavi produced in Georgia in the Kakheti region of Shumi winery - Iberiuli Saperavi Dry Premium 2016. I had found the wine at a small candy store in Chisinau and some of that wine remained in my mind, the taste felt was quite different from what I knew until then - I remember very strong aromas of very ripe black fruits, as well as shades of pepper. Saperavi is one of the 525 grape varieties of Georgian origin, is the best known and somehow represents "Georgia's heritage in wine".

In translation "saperavi" means "paint" and refers to the fact that the grape's skin is dark red, including the flesh of the grape being slightly colored, which is a very rare thing. The grape is originally from Georgia in the southwest - Zemo Kartli known historically as Meskheti, then developed on a larger area including today the Kakheti area (northeast) and extending as far as Georgia's border with Turkey. (to the southwest). Saperavi is also cultivated today in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Bulgaria and Azerbaijan.

Since 2017 when I first tried this variety I have been following on our market wines made from Saperavi grapes. As we do not have Saperavi plantations in Romania and as the wines from Georgia were not exactly at hand, I started looking at the wineries in the Republic of Moldova, noticing that they have several producers who make wines from this variety.

Carmina Nițescu
Winesday.ro & Winesday App