With its stone-fruit orchard undertones, this is a different kind of Georgian peach
This seems like an outlier for the middle of the summer, but this full-bodied amber wine from Vine Ponto in the Kakheti region in Georgia is just the thing to change up your summer wine drinking. This is a dry wine, deep gold in color and made in a clean, oxidized style—none of that funky stuff many associate with amber, orange or natural wines. After pulling you in with an intriguing nose of walnut skin and dried apricot, this wine presents more apricot, some juicy peach skin, ripe yellow apples, tropical fruits and a seductive umami mouthfeel. The finish is savory, a bit herbal. Made from older vines, it was fermented for six months in the traditional Georgian egg-shaped clay vessels called qvevri, which are buried in the ground. It was transferred to American oak barrels and bottled unfiltered. Pair this with roasted hearty fish like monkfish or a chicken breast with grilled nectarines and bitter green greens such as broccoli rabe.
This label is produced by a larger parent company, The Spirit of Georgia, founded in 2014 in Kakheti, the premier wine-making region in the east of the country. The company prides itself on traditional, natural production in their qvevri cellars, am 8,000-year-old winemaking method recognized by UNESCO as a representation of “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.” You can read more in my story, “Why Georgian Wines Are Among The Most Unique On The Planet.”
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