Saperavi Zurab Topuridze 2019

Saperavi Zurab Topuridze, Organic wine, very approachable style, fresh, soft fruits, elegance and great freshness. When tasting Georgian wine, the uninitiated can find them unusual at best, often down right weird. However, Georgia is one the origins of wine and their ancient grapes and natural wine making traditions and use of Amphorae make for fantastically interesting and very tasty wines. This natural Saperavi, one of the most well known native red grapes is extremely easy drinking (for Georgia) so a great entry point for the genre. The fruits are foresty and a little spicy, the body is medium with a core of richness and the acidity is cutting and sapid. Lovely red wine and very good Georgian red wine.

Zurab has been involved in vineyard farming and making natural wines from childhood when he used to help his granddad.

He was 13 years old when he made his first natural wine on his own. His winery is in the village of Dablatsikhe (English translation “Lower Castle”), in the western part of Georgia, bordered by the Black Sea subtropical coastal lowlands to the west and the mountains in the east. The region is famous for its polyphonic music, humorous people, and used to be well known for its delicious rose-hued wines. When Zurab got married, he bought small house in the village and sufficient land for viticulture. He makes natural wines in underground qvevris with a total capacity of around 13 tonnes (22 terracotta vessels in total). The vineyard itself is four hectares, planted on the terraced slopes of River Supsa valley, on the reddish-brown clay over lime with lots of magnesium and iron in the soil.