![\"\"](\"http:\/\/vinosseur.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/2010-07-11_72010323.jpg\" "\\"2010-07-11_72010323\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nNow, back to the future (today) and the wines of Georgia, all hailing from the Kakheti region located in Eastern Georgia, the driest of the 3 regions.\u00a0 It is the largest wine region in Georgia spanning over \u00a011,000 square kilometers.<\/p>\n
All three wines were (mostly) of the same grape variety, Rkatsiteli (or Rkatziteli – pronounced rkah-tsee-tely, and directly translated means “red vine”).\u00a0 The only Georgian wine experience I have had before today, was\u00a0 tasting some half-sweet (non-representative) red wine that was poured from a decorated clay bottle, and let\u2019s just say it wasn\u2019t a wine to remember. In fact, I only remember the bottle to this day.\u00a0\u00a0 These three wines were not at all what I had anticipated. They were aromatic, complex, fresh and tannic wines that would do well with food.<\/p>\n
This project started about 4 years ago when a group of Italian wine and spirit merchants (Luca & Paolo Gargano) from Genova purchased a 1.8ha vineyard in the village of Mararo.\u00a0 With the help of Jean Jacques, a friend of Nicolas Joly, and a local farmer named Nodar Shinjiashvili who was\u00a0 cultivating old varieties of cereals biodynamically, Clos des Amandiers was born.\u00a0 In 2007 they released their first vintage, the first wine in my tasting.<\/p>\n
The vines for this wine share the space with almond trees and are cultivated biodynamically.\u00a0 Harvest occurred in October, the grapes subsequently softly pressed.\u00a0 Fermentation occurred spontaneously with indigenous yeasts\u00a0 in old Qvevri without temperature control.\u00a0 Maceration lasted for six months in these Qvevri then transferred to smaller, non-buried Qvevri for 12 months maturation.\u00a0 The wine was then bottled without filtration and left to age in the bottle.<\/p>\n
Date tasted:\u00a0 July 11th, 2010 13:45<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/a> Nose:<\/strong> Wow, intense. Quite a sponty and wild nose of dried peaches, raw almonds, marmalade and yellow plums. Hints of jasmine and lavender emerge after about an hour.<\/p>\n Palate:<\/strong> A delicate and elegant entry. Red apples (yes, red) and yellow apples. Medium ++ tannins, medium + acidity (tangy). I found more fruit on the nose then I did on the palate.\u00a0 The wine had a 30 second+ finish with dominating tannins and toast.<\/p>\n<\/a>Appearance:<\/strong> Quite a dark orange hued wine with copper and amber tones (think Cat’s Eye gemstones)<\/p>\n