2015 Naotari, Saperavi, Dry Unfiltered Red Wine, Kavareli, Kakheti, Georgia

The Wine: There is a nice interplay of beady tannins, forceful acidity and fruit, with clear red forest berries, cranberries and sweet spices. Because it is aged in clay jars and is unfiltered, there is a slightly chalky but not unpleasant feel in the mouth. This wine is a good example of a well-made Saperavi.

This dark ruby colored Saperavi opens with black olive and black currant like bouquet. The finish is dry and its moderate tannins build up and last for quite some time. This Saperavi would pair nicely with grilled steak and excellent with mature cheeses of different styles.

Saperavi (Georgian: literally “paint, dye, give color”) is an acidic, teinturier-type grape variety native to Georgia (country), where it is used to make many of the region’s most well-known wines. It is also grown in small quantities in the Niagara and Finger Lakes regions of New York State as well as former USSR countries. Its leaves are 3-lobed, large, and roundish. The berries are medium to large, elliptic or round depending on the type, dark bluish, and thin-skinned; with a maturation period of approximately 5 months and moderate productivity.  Sapravi wines have a characteristic bouquet, a harmonious taste, and a pleasant astringency. Its alcoholic strength ranges from 10.5-12.5% and titrated acidity 5-7%. It is known to have been in production since 1886. Saperavi grapes produce very deep red wines that are suitable for extended aging. It has the potential to produce high alcohol levels, and is often blended with lighter varieties. It is by far the most dominant Georgian red grape in terms of overall production.

The Winery: Naotari Family Vineyards & Cellar was founded in 2012 by Koba Kvatchrelishvili and his two sons, Rezo and Alex Kvatchrelishvili. Koba is in love with the traditions of Kakhetian wine making; traditions that have existed in Georgia for thousands of years and in Koba’s family for generations. Kakhetian wine making centers itself around two things: 1) Qvevri, the traditional terra-cotta (clay ) amphora type that are buried underneath the ground and are used in each stage of the winemaking process, and 2) Skin contact, Kakhetian white wines spend approximately 6 months in contact with their grape skins developing complex and amber colored wines.

Naotari Vineyard approach is centered around small batch wine production focused on uniqueness and an authentic expression of the Chikaani terroir and Kakhetian traditions. Annually they produces a very limited quantity at around 3,000 bottles, which are unfiltered while no additives or artificial yeast are used in winemaking. The Naotari family Vineyards & cellars produce their wines using Qvevri method -an 8,000-year-old uniquely Georgian method that utilizes a huge amphora, Qvevri, buried underneath the ground to allow wine fermentation and aging in an even, naturally cool condition. Clay is the happy medium between stainless steel and oak. Like oak, clay is porous, allowing for an exchange of oxygen. Like steel, clay is a neutral material, so it doesn’t impart additional flavors.

Read more at: http://www.georgianwinehouse.com/brand/47/Naotari/winemaker

2013 Dignac, Skaramuca, Plavac Mali, Vrhunsko Vino, Peljesac Peninsula, Croatia  

The Wine: Dingač vine is grown in a special location in the Dingač valley where the soil composition, slope (30-70%) and many hours of sun result in top quality wine. The wine is technologically processed and, following a period of 2 to 4 years, offered on the market. The Mediterranean climate with its short, mild winters and long, warm summers full of sunshine gave birth to wines boasting with ideal ratio of alcohol, acid, minerals, tannin, color, proteins and vitamins. The Skaramuča Dingač has won the bronze medal on the biggest American wine fair in San Francisco, among 4,500 contestants from all over the world.   Dingač is a high-quality wine with deeply ruby red color and subtly pronounced varietal aroma. Dingač is a typical Plavac with fruit characteristics and unique by harmonious fullness of flavor. It is ideal with red grilled meat and sauces and aged cheeses.

Plavac Mali is the most planted red grape variety in Croatia (to be precise, on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia). Plavac Mali is probably the best-known Croatian wine, and if you are just starting to get to know Croatian wines and haven’t tasted it before, it should definitely be at the top of your list. The wine plavac mali is a very powerful, robust red wine, rich in taste and high in alcohol and tannins.

Plavac mali has a very interesting history of origin that has caused many wine experts to become obsessed with tracing its origins. For a long time plavac mali was confused with zinfandel, the famous Californian wine. Plavac mali has even been subjected to DNA research and has starred in the documentary ‘Dossier Zinfandel’. We now know that plavac mali is a cross between Crlenjak Kaštelanski (ancestral Zinfandel) and Dobričić (an ancient red wine grape variety from the Dalmatian coast) grapes. How the grapes found their way from a small Mediterranean country to California has been tickling the brains of wine historians, plant experts, winemakers, and even geneticists for a very long time

The Winery:  The Skaramuča family vineyards are situated on prominent locations on Pelješac peninsula and are a part of Pelješka Župa and Dingač area. On the Dingač southern slopes the vineyards spread on an area of around 20 ha.

The highly renowned Croatian winemaker, Ivo Skaramuča is the owner and the founder of the Skaramuča brand wines. Although the winemaking history is as old as the family Skaramuča itself, the real success tale starts in 1992 when the Croatian legislation recognizes private grapes growing and winemaking, which gives the Skaramuča brand a chance to position itself among the top Croatian wines. Today Skaramuča is one of the biggest Croatian private entrepreneurs in winemaking and the owner of the largest vineyard in the Dingač area.

The beautiful Dingač slopes feature numerous plavac mali groves nurtured and developed by Mr. Skaramuča over the past two decades, now possessing 165,000 plavac mali vines. They produced 70,000 bottles of placav mali in 2017.

Read more at: http://dingac-skaramuca.hr/en/wines/dingac/

4.  CV Members Rating

View full evaluation here: 201 Summary of Scores

Best Rated Wine: 2013 Dignac, Skaramuca, Plavac Mali, Vrhunsko Vino, Peljesac Peninsula, Croatia

Best Buy: 2013 Dignac, Skaramuca, Plavac Mali, Vrhunsko Vino, Peljesac Peninsula, Croatia

5. Technical Notes 

Notes compiled by Jorge Claro and Cristian Santelices.

The Wine Treasures of Eastern Europe.  

The classic Old-World wine making regions, such as Bordeaux, Burgundy and Piedmont, are all located between 40˚ and 50˚ latitude, where climates are generally favorable for fine wine production. Much of Central and Eastern Europe falls within the same zones. With wine making histories that began prior to those of France, Italy or Spain, the region could be considered the original “Old World” of wine.  What follows is an overview of the most important wine producing countries in the region.

Hungary.  One hundred years ago, Hungary was one of the most important wine producers in Europe. Every royal court in Europe clinked glasses filled with precious gold Tokaji (“toe-kye”) wine, while other lush Hungarian whites and reds were lauded and enjoyed throughout Europe. In addition, it should be noted that Hungarian Oak is one of the three major types of oak, after French and American, that is used to make wine barrels. Unfortunately, due the aggressive assault of phylloxera in the 1880’s, two world wars, and forty years of communist collectivization we don’t see many Hungarian wines penetrating the international market. In the US, it is very difficult to find quality Hungarian wines.

Hungary is bouncing back. Countless small estates replanted and cultivated across the country are turning out beautiful wines–a result of traditional winemaking culture mixed with a modern sensibility. With 22 wine regions growing hundreds of varietals, the country offers a multitude of great wines to explore.

The country is located between the 46th and 49th parallel which is actually the same latitude range as many of France’s top wine regions from Northen Rhone to Champagne. Hungary’s rolling hills are rich in volcanic soils and limestone–idyllic soil types for fine winemaking.  Hungary’s four top wine producing regions are Eger, Tokaj, Villány and Somló.

Croatia.  You’ve most likely already had a wine that originated in Croatia, you just don’t know it! In 1994, grape geneticist, Dr. Carol Meredith, discovered that Zinfandel (aka Primitivo) is identical to Croatia’s Tribidrag (or Crljenak Kaštelanski). Tribidrag also happens to be the parent grape of Croatia’s most popular red wine, Plavac Mali. So, if you love Zinfandel, you already love Plavac Mali!. Plavac Mali is the primary red wine of Croatia and grows mostly along the Dalmatian coast. It is a wine that is rich and full of flavor, higher in both alcohol and tannin, with lower acidity, and has flavors of blackberry, dark cherry, pepper, carob, dry figs, and spice. Plavac Mali translates to “small blue,” and this grape is so important in Croatia that it was the first to have its own appellations – Dingač and Postup, which are both located on the Pelješac peninsula in South-Central Dalmatia. Croatia has many indigenous grape varieties that are not very well-known internationally, partly due to their complicated names such as Pošip, Malvazija Istarska, Grk, Teran (In Italy, Terran is called Terrano) Graševina also known as Welschriesling and one of the most popular white wine grapes in Croatia.

Georgia.  Georgia is one of the oldest wine regions in the world. The fertile valleys and protective slopes of the Transcaucasia were home to grapevine cultivation and Neolithic wine production for at least 8000 years. Due to the many millennia of wine in Georgian history and its prominent economic role, the traditions of wine are considered entwined with and inseparable from the national identity.  Among the best-known Georgian wine regions are Kakheti (further divided into the micro-regions of Telavi and Kvareli), Kartli, Imereti, Racha-Lechkhumi and Kyemo Svaneti, Adjara and Abkhasia. UNESCO added the ancient traditional Georgian winemaking method using the Kvevri clay jars to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage lists.

This video illustrates the Kvevri method of wine making: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN5ziogyxP0

There are five main regions of viniculture, the principal region being Kakheti, which produces seventy percent of Georgia’s grapes. Traditionally, Georgian wines carry the name of the source region, district, or village, much like French regional wines such as Bordeaux or Burgundy. As with these French wines, Georgian wines are usually a blend of two or more grapes. For instance, one of the best-known white wines, Tsinandali, is a blend of Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane grapes from the micro regions of Telavi and Kvareli in the Kakheti region.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgian_wine#Georgian_grape_varieties

There is additional information on this tasting here: Additional Information Wines from East Europe