{"product_id":"tchotiashvili-rkatsiteli-kvevri-amber-2017","title":"Tchotiashvili Rkatsiteli Kvevri Amber 2017","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwelve hectares, more than forty grape varieties. Most estates that size grow two or three. The Tchotiashvili vineyards sit in Kakheti on the left bank of the Alazani Valley, on the lower slopes of the Greater Caucasus between the Lopota and Stori rivers, at 420 to 450 meters above sea level, in a pocket of specific microclimate long known for Saperavi and Rkatsiteli. Twelve Georgian varieties are in commercial production here — Rkatsiteli, Mtsvane, Kisi, Khikhvi, Chitistvala, Kakhuri Mtsvivani, Tavkveri, Saperavi, Budeshuri Saperavi, Muscat Rkatsiteli, Grdzelmtevana, Mkhargrdzeli — plus two Europeans, Montepulciano and Shiraz. Everything else belongs to an ampelographic plot: rare vines held in tiny quantities and vinified experimentally, kept alive on the chance they prove worth scaling. The soil is fed with organic material only. Pruning is deliberately severe, leaving few buds so the vine carries a moderate crop and ripens what it has.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne hundred percent Rkatsiteli, made amber by the traditional Kakhetian method — which is to say, made the way it has been made in this valley for a very long time. The crushed fruit goes into qvevri, egg-shaped clay vessels buried to the neck in the cellar floor, together with skins, seeds and stems. The estate's own account of its process: after alcoholic fermentation, white wine stays on skins and pips for seven to eight months, reds for three to four. The stems have to be physiologically ripe as well as the fruit, and that ripeness is where the amber color comes from. When the wine has taken what it will from the solids, they are removed and the clear fraction is racked to a second qvevri to mature under regular tasting and laboratory checks. Wild yeast, no additives in the vineyard or the cellar, bottling unfiltered. The estate describes the finished Rkatsiteli as deep amber shot with gold and copper: autumn blossom and tea on the nose, with tobacco emerging as it ages; rich and full and velvety on the palate, tannins fine, acidity balanced, walnut and spice unfolding toward a long close touched with honey and mineral. Nearly a decade on, the 2017 is drinking inside its window rather than waiting on one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt the start of the eighteenth century a Tchotiashvili ancestor built a house in the village of Saniore, on the bank of the Lopota. There has been a rtveli — a harvest — and qvevri wine there every year since. The sixth generation runs it now: two brothers, Ucha and Kakha, with Kakha carrying the winemaker's and technologist's responsibility and adding scientific work to what he inherited. In 2002 the brothers began planting rare varieties alongside the existing vines, which became the first trial ampelographic sections; in 2013 the family operation was formalized as a small company, Satsnakheli, and the wines went to market. Everything is done by hand, down to the writing on the labels, and no bottle is released for sale until Kakha has inspected it and signed for it. As he puts it, they do not work for quantity. Ucha frames the whole enterprise as an obligation: qvevri winemaking is an art they have no right to lose.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKhachapuri, the molten cheese bread, is the natural target — skin tannin and acidity together cut through salty melted cheese in a way no ordinary white can manage. Chicken satsivi in cold walnut sauce works because the wine already tastes faintly of walnut and has the grip to handle all that nut fat. Grilled pork mtsvadi with raw onion and pomegranate meets its match in the wine's tannic frame, which does for smoked, fatty meat what a red would. And off the Georgian map entirely: roast turkey with the full spread of side dishes, where the amber's phenolic structure and savory tea note hold a crowded plate together. The estate suggests serving at fourteen to sixteen degrees Celsius and decanting first. That is the real argument for a bottle like this — it can carry a whole table at once, which is exactly what a Georgian table demands.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"E-Corp","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51326976032991,"sku":null,"price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P9030241.jpg?v=1788538495","url":"https:\/\/denverwinemerchant.com\/products\/tchotiashvili-rkatsiteli-kvevri-amber-2017","provider":"Denver Wine Merchant","version":"1.0","type":"link"}