Lost Eden Saperavi Red Blend 2018
-
Panel
Tasting
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The wine is dark and earthy, with brambly flavors of wild berries. A portion of this Saperavi blend is aged in Georgian qvevri, a type of clay amphora listed as a World Heritage item by UNESCO.
Professional Ratings
-
Tasting Panel
Georgian wine imports are on the rise, and this one should be at the top of everyone’s lists. Coming from the documented birthplace of wine circa 5500 B.C., this wonder of a project was launched by a young Georgian named Tariel Chichua, an attendee of Cornell University who sought funding from Georgia’s ministry of agriculture. Eleventh-generation Georgian winemaker Lado Uzunashvili, who trained in Austria and France, created the wine with fruit from the Kakhetian region, mostly the indigenous Saperavi. The result is concentrated and fragrant, offering a marvelous layer of velvet atop dark berries and melted chocolate—and while it comes across as dense and sweet, it’s well balanced, with optimum acidity for its style at 13% ABV. Absolutely delicious
Lost Eden is a Saperavi blend, a grape native to the country of Georgia. Saperavi has grown wild in this ancient mountain kingdom’s lush, verdant valleys for thousands of years and now it’s available to you.
Taste Saperavi and you’ll notice the same fragrant, aromatic array found in mulberry, cherry, and blackberry. Distinct for its deep midnight-purple color that glows crimson in direct light. Saperavi is one of only fourteen Teinturier grapes in the world with dark skin and dark flesh.
Lost Eden is smooth and silky with layers of black fruit that emerge as the flavor gains structure with age.
Beyond the usual suspects, there are hundreds of red grape varieties grown throughout the world. Some are indigenous specialties capable of producing excellent single varietal wines, while others are better suited for use as blending grapes. Each has its own distinct viticultural characteristics, as well as aroma and flavor profiles, offering much to be discovered by the curious wine lover. In particular, Portugal and Italy are known for having a multitude of unique varieties but they can really be found in any region.
A Eurasian country bordered by Russia to its north, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan to its south and the Black Sea along its western border, The Country of Georgia is one of the world’s oldest winemaking countries. Archaeological evidence in the Caucasas region (the area covered by the countries listed above, where the European and Asian continents merge) shows wine production dating back 6,000 to 8,000 years ago but exactly which country can lay claim to the birthplace of winemaking remains undetermined.
Though some modern movements have been made, Georgia remains committed to ancient winemaking techniques, namely the use of qvevri, or clay vessels for fermentation and storage of both its red and white wines. Like ampohorae, these are typically buried underground or set into the floor of a cellar in an effort to regulate temperature. Saperavi, one of the few red-fleshed, dark-skinned varieties, produces an intense red wine. Rkatsiteli, Georgia’s key pale-skinned variety, is popular for its versatility. It is capable of producing wines of various styles from fresh, dry whites and complex, amber-colored skin-contact wine, to sparkling, sweet and fortified wines.