Teliani Valley Tsinandali
Georgia, Eastern Europe
imported by Georgian Wine House ($11-12)

A hit of ripe fruit, crisp acidity, tastes like a southern Italian, very aromatic. It would go nicely with strong and salty food, like antipasti. I really like it, for something different; but I never would have grabbed it. That makes me feel bad for this little fifteen year old country, and I don’t know why.

So, the Prime Minister of Georgia is touring a few US cities right now to promote Georgian wines. Turns out, Georgia’s only two exports are wine and water, and wine making goes back thousands of years in the area. A beautiful country that looks a bit like it’s southern neighbor Turkey, with dramatic, craggy mountain peaks at least as high as the Rockies.

I looked over my notes and found about four dozen Georgian wines that I’d tasted. Hardly a quorem to make blanket judgements. But in general, whites reminded me of dry, light Italians and dry, non-resinated Greek whites. Many of the whites had heavy aromas like a dry Muscat wine. Red wines, however, were all over the board, much like Greek reds. Some of the reds don’t ferment all the way and have a natural sweetness, not my bag. The dry reds are fruity, light in tannin, and soft like a moderately priced Washington Merlot.

MY ASSESSMENT: As a novelty you could do worse. The wines are good. As a country, they could do better, especially if they need to survive on wine exports. Get us something that can be priced $9 or $10 to stack. Georgia is not a rich country, and it has a coastline–no reason you can’t hit a lower price point. Take a page from poor as hell Southern Italy and start from the bargain wines up. Clean up the winemaking practices, give people a point of reference on a budget. And work on your labels–you don’t want to get passed by because you look like corporate Cali Chard. Play up the bi-alphabetal/graphic element.

There. I’ll waive my usual consulting fee, seeing as you’re only fifteen. But if you want us to take you seriously, take your wine seriously and the art of selling it doubly so.