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Seduced by a Label: Lukasi Saperavi

 

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Lent was a wee little while ago. But, I’ve never been great about blogging about wine as I drink it. Why is Lent even important to the story? I’m glad you asked! I am a big fan of Fat Tuesday – the day before Ash Wednesday when Lent and fasting begins. Catholic fasts are pretty weak sauce when held up against other religions, but I still love Fat Tuesday. This year, I decided to go full Georgian feast and get takeout from one of Istanbul’s Georgian restaurants. Naturally, therefore, I needed a Georgian wine to pair!

In my wine room exists a collection of dust encrusted red Georgian wines. I look at them every once in a while, think that I should drink one, but then remember that I don’t really love Georgian reds. However, I have long since drunk all my Georgian bubbles, whites, and ambers. So, red it would be. I pulled out one particularly dusty bottle, a Lukasi Saperavi 2016, and thought, dang that’s a bit old. I should probably drink that. 

So, here we are. 

Lukasi

It was not easy to glean any information about this winery! The website gives an error message, the Instagram account is overly curated but provides no real info, and none of the online shops that carry their wine give much (if any) information about the winery. Not even the Vinologue book Georgia by Miquel Hudin and Daria Kholodilina give it more than a mention. 

So, here’s what little I found out:

• Lukasi winery was founded in either 2009 or 2011 by Katevan Gersamia and Mamu Dolidze, a husband and wife duo 
• First vintage released in 2013
• It’s probably in Kakheti
• Lukasi works with winemaker Zura Goletiani 
• The winery specializes in Georgian grapes including Saperavi, Kisi and Tvishi as well as the less common Chkhaveri and Usakhelauri
• Their wines, including the Saperavi, have won praise from international wine professionals and has been featured in various wine magazines

Let’s move onto something for which I do have some real information: Saperavi.

Saperavi

Saperavi is what you call a teinturier variety. What this word – that I cannot for the life of me pronounce correctly – means is that, unlike the majority of grapes, both its skin AND its flesh are red. With most black grape varieties, one can make rosé wines and even blanc de noir simply by separating the juice from the skins immediately. There’s no doing that with a teinturier variety because even the juice is dark-colored! Even the grape’s name reflects its character with ‘saperavi’ being the Georgian word for “dye.”

Saperavi, with its thick skins, thrives in cooler, continental climates. It’s a late-ripening variety, hardy (obviously if it likes the cold), and grows in loose clusters that are relatively disease resistant.

Its wines are intensely colored (even the limited rosés I’ve seen can be very dark), highly tannic, and have intense acidity. Often found made in the Georgian qvevri, Saperavi also takes well to oak and, when made well, can be age worthy. 

Native to Georgia where it is one of the most commonly grown grapes, especially in the East, Saperavi is also commonly found throughout the Caucasuses and Eastern Europe. It can also be found in limited amounts in New Zealand apparently (that one surprised me), Australia, and the US. 

Lukasi Saperavi, 2016

Personal disclaimer: I do not love this grape and generally avoid it when I’m wine shopping in Georgia. So, I’m not going to lie, I bought this wine because I liked the label. 

The bottle indicated that the wine aged for 12 months in oak – however there were no further notes to indicate age, size, origin or how it was fermented.

Upon pouring, I thought: Yup, that’s Saperavi, as the dense, opaque, nearly black wine coated the sides of the decanter. Because yeah, you want to decant a Saperavi. Even lazy me who can rarely be bothered to plan that far ahead knew it was necessary and let it rest for about an hour. And wow, so much sediment left in the bottle!

A big red wine, it showed a savory character, with smokey detail and herby (literally savory in this case) and black olive notes framing a core of fleshy purple plums and crushed blackberry flavors. Chewy tannins and firm – actually still quite aggressive – acidity with a mere 13.5% ABV. I do appreciate a full-bodied wine that doesn’t get there on the dubious merits of a 15% ABV.

Did it pair well with my Fat Tuesday feast of walnut eggplant rolls, Megruli khachapuri, lobiani, and beef khinkali? Naturally. 

I didn’t put it in the list above…but did you know that Turkey has Saperavi too?