On the 22nd of June, gvino UK were invited to a live face to face Georgian wine tasting hosted by the wonderful folks at Georgian Wine UK- a first since October 2019! And let us tell you, it was delicious. What a welcome break from all the dire news that we have been having over the last weeks and months
First of all, a huge thanks to the Georgian Wine UK team for managing such a successful event at the outstanding location of the Trivet Restaurant of London, which is managed by two Fat Duck legends, Isa Bal and Jonny Lake. The lunch which was graciously provided included some mouth-watering flavors of succulent chicken seared with balsamic vinegar served with delicate new potatoes and crunchy green beans. And the other guests? Let’s just say the company matched the deliciousness of the food! It was such a pleasure to talk about Georgian wine with guests like Jaime Goode, Tim Atkin, Julia Harding and many more.
Another delight came from the high level of interest our delicious PetNat received: Many tasters were keen to try out our delicious Pet Nat from Gvantsa and they weren’t left disappointed. Beautiful aromas of apricot waft out of the glass revealing a straw coloured sparkling white. This wine has a clean and fresh flavour of honey apricots with a slight acidity. We receievd lots of compliments about this wine – we will have to get some more in, as our stocks are getting low!
Tsitska Sparkling White Wine
We were struck by the shear variety of Georgian wine on offer during the event – it’s remarkable that a small country can produce such a wide array of wine and wine styles. It’s not so surprising when one considers that Georgia is home to over 500 indigenous grapes.
Our best seller, Vazisubani Estate Qvevri Saperavi, is always a crowd favourite. It’s simply one of the best Qvevri Saperavi wines that is on offer anywhere in the world. It was also suprising how well it’s little brother, Georgian Sun Saperavi, went down too. This wine is a blend between Qvevri and Steel fermented Saperavi grapes. This method brings the price down but it appears not to diminish from the flavour.
The best 8 quid bottle of red that I have had for quite some time. Fantastic. – Tim
Amber wines are such a different style of wine. Our guests were keen to try this increasingly popular wine style. Of cource, at gvino UK, we import some excellent amber wines from Kakheti and Imereti. Baia’s Qvevri Tsitska was a firm winner. It’s a softer amber wine than some of the coarser wines from Kakheti with still enough complexity to create interest for our well informed guests. Many people want to try the ‘full bananas’ Kakhetian amber wine and Vazisubani Estate was the first port of call. Our Qvevri Khikhvi is a crazy wine. At the Oxford Wine Festival a few years ago, we had a chap describe the nose as ‘clean farmyard’ and I can’t get that out of my head! It certainly doesn’t taset like a farmyard – complex dried fruits and a long tannic finish make this a most delicious wine
Finally, our big winner was the King of Amber wines – Vazisubani Estate Qvevri Mtsvane. I always describe this as a wine that most Georgians would drink at home with lunch or dinner. A complex nose including tropical fruits makes way for an intense flavour of dried apricots and figs with such a long a distinguished finish. Beautiful.
Overall, we were incredibly grateful to have a live wine tasting in such a prestigious location with such wonderful and knowledgeable people. We hope that this won’t be the end of the live tastings and we look forward to seeing you at our next tasting!
