A Geography Lesson, A Gender Reveal, And a Geeky Wine Walk Into A Bar

A fine Georgian wine with a fascinating history goes undercover as something you can actually afford.

I’m trying really hard to not let Ray Charles get stuck in my head as I’m gearing up to write about this month’s fine-wine-you-can-afford from Georgia. The winemakers were kind enough to anticipate our American ignorance and remind us, right there on the label, that we’re talking about the country not the state.

Embarrassing. But also thanks for clearing that up.

Here’s the deal: the earliest evidence of winemaking that we have to date comes from Georgia, where they still make wine the way they used to—in a clay vessel buried in the cool ground. That is some serious commitment to tradition but there’s a reason for it.

Georgia makes great wine. And you can buy it for $20. Here’s the bottle I drank yesterday with some fellow wine nerds. The grape is Saperavi, the most widely planted red grape in Georgia.

Check out the baddie on the label. This is, according to the winemaker, a portrait of Maia, a “cross between Mulan and Robin Hood.” She would dress as a man and steal from the rich, give to the poor, and she even joined the Georgian army where she rose to a higher and higher ranking. One day, I suppose she got tired of drawing on her mustache and in a dramatic affair, revealed that she was a woman.

Now that’s a gender reveal I can get behind.

Is Maia real? I don’t know but the wine was the epitome of smooth. It’s a fine wine going undercover as a cheap date, but if your nose is good you’ll notice right away that there’s something special about it.

Me, Dan, and Harry picked out fig, prune, Hershey’s cocoa powder, some wood, eucalyptus, and balsamic, which led to a very scholarly discussion about how to pronounce balsamic without it leading to inevitable testicle-humor. In the end, we found that it cannot be done.

On the palate, this wine was stemmy (in a good way) with red fruit that Dan referred to as “elusive” and I agree.

Just super mellow, smooth, quiet tannins, an agreeable wine all around.

We also tried a white made from Rkatsiteli, the most widely planted white grape in Georgia. It was so, so fruity.

So how do you find Georgian wine? Well, if you’re in Charlotte, NC, you can get it at the Bohemian Wine Bar.

If you’re not, you need to locate the nearest geeky, locally owned wine shop and ask who the resident wine geek is. Ask them for Georgian wine and voila! You have yourself a Georgian wine or at least a local wine buyer that has noted that their clientele has great taste.

Here are my official notes.

Nose: prune, fig, raisin, Hershey’s cocoa powder, eucalyptus, wood

Palate: stemmy, elusive red fruit

Structure: dry, light body, low tannins, medium acidity

Who should drink it: Bougie people with a budget

Pair it with: a rainy day, prosciutto and goat cheese flatbread, charcuterie with fig jam, a geography lesson

Song pairing: “Homesickness, Pt. 2” by Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou