#91- Saperavi

In Georgia, the grape is known as Kindzmarauli but we know it as the Saperavi grape. It literally means "paint or dye" and it's a very dark, almost black wine. To me, it had a very purplish tinge to it. It's also known as the Kakheti grape. it's a great wine to age.

In Georgia, farmers still store their wine in cone shaped clay jars and bury them underground with wooden lids. Modern winemaking has since taken over though and the wines are reminiscent of Southern Hemisphere wines that are fruit driven, warm climate wines.

I was limited that night to just a few red wines and this was the only one I had that would go with my hearty dinner of....wait for it...Bavarian sausage! I never eat sausage but maybe I was feeling sentimental from my time in Eastern Europe and especially Austria and Germany, so I picked up a packages of the sausages. It might be a cheap meal, but I see nothing wrong with matching it to a nice wine.

And in my opinion, the match worked! I really enjoyed this wine and actually drank it over a couple of nights and I liked it more and more as the wine oxidized. The wine is full of flavour- beautiful black berry flavours and a beautiful hints of cherry.

The winery is Tbilvino in Georgia. And this wine has won a ton of awards. I'm pretty sure that this was one of very few bottles even available here in Edmonton. I found it at Sherbrooke Liquor on their specialty wine rack and I paid close to $27 for it. But it was definitely worth it.

I would recommend this wine and definitely buy it again if I see it. This would probably be a great wine to cellar and open it in a few years to see how different it tastes.

Now would someone build me a cellar already?