Layne’s Wine Gig Presents
HEADING EAST
By Layne V. Witherell
As usual, 60 Minutes did it again. On November 26th, 2023, they broadcast the first national TV look at the world’s oldest wine region, the country of Georgia. This was 8,000 years in the making. I am not sure if SOMM TV has ever featured Georgia, but in the words of the great wine importer Terry Theise, “Please, no more ‘effen movies or TV shows about sommeliers.”
The best thing about the 60 Minutes piece was that they were journalists, not self-serving reps. As such, they presented a well-researched intro to the wines of the East.
Georgia is best known today as the home of recently rediscovered local grapes and totally ancient winemaking techniques. But there is more. That entire world of Eastern European grapes and wines is not only being rediscovered but is ascending in quality and popularity. We will explore some Eastern wines that are available locally and one that you can only hope to find.
GEORGIA
GUARDIANS SAPERAVI Reserve, 2020, $17.99.
Saperavi, an indigenous grape to Georgia and Russia literally translates to “dye,” as the juice is dark and the wine is equally dark. We had it with a steak, and it was as chewy as the meat itself. Want life beyond cabernet sauvignon? This is your absolute ticket.
The howler – and it is a howler – is their marketing. The fanciful character on the label “defending their wine for 8000 years” is a cartoon image honoring Prince Tomo who fought the Persians. Also, what the hell is a “mission-based brand”? Their label description, “Tastes like Cherry, light oak, Moderate Tannin,” describes pinot noir, not this. Nonetheless, it is a good entry level Georgian wine. Available locally.
Worth searching out is a wine we had in Quebec City some years ago appearing in a column I wrote titled “Food and Wine in Quebec City,” March 2017. An astonishing Georgian wine find:
SOLIKO TSAISVIULI SAPERAVI.
Made in a qvevri. Famously, these are large, buried, ancient clay amphora pots where the grapes, skins, and pips are dumped and left to do their own thing for six months to a year. Indigenous yeasts, no added sulfites. I wrote, “Nail biting acidity with tannin as an art form. In my over forty years of tasting, I have never encountered anything like this.”
It’s not for the faint of heart. Many wines from the East don’t have what we refer to as “primary fruit flavors.” They can taste like exotic plants or a strangely cooked fruit. This wine shows up on the list as imported by Georgian Wine House out of D.C. We can only hope it makes it here.
LEBANON
Unlike Georgia, which was isolated from western wine traditions until recently, Lebanon had a local wine tradition along with an infusion of French culture and grapes (and don’t forget the croissants).
IXSIR, ALTITUDES, $19.99,
Elixir in Arabic, and it is that, an elixir. If Saperavi can get out there with both power and quirkiness, the grape combo of the local Obediah white when grown and blended alongside Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon grapes is both handcrafted, sleek, and modern. I challenge any sommelier in training to taste this one blind and identify where it is from. As delightful a glass of wine for the money as you are likely to find. Available locally. There is both a trend toward all indigenous grapes or our old favorites as part of the mix. Winemaker’s choice.
CROATIA
SAINTS HILLS BLACK PLAVIC MALI, Dalmatia, 2020, $22.99.
Available locally. The precursor to our zinfandel grape. It resembles in flavor, “A loud middle-aged Croatian man whose laughter and pipe smoke fills the room,” (Jason Wilson). This wine is the definition of rustic. It is the anti-pinot noir drinker’s wine. Flavors of gnarliness, but in a good way.
I have done label design in a prior winery CEO life, and the label should reflect what is inside the bottle. Or, in the case of Guardians, it at least conveys an adorable little story. The bottle is sleek, modern black, with the word Dalmatian (the dog and the region) together with a stylized silvery Dalmatian dog face staring at you. None of this makes sense with what’s actually in the bottle.
I envision a label with a funky old dude with elbows sprawled on an older worn table staring at you, daring you to say a negative word about his wine.
We can’t mention Croatia without paying homage to their most famous winemaker, Miljenko “Mike” Grgich (1923-2023).
He left communist Yugoslavia for America after completing his winemaking studies in the 1950’s. He became a journeyman gypsy Napa Valley winemaker. Everyone should have their moment. His came on May 24th, 1976. As winemaker of Napa’s Chateau Montelena, he whipped up one of the greatest wines of France in a blind tasting now known as “The Judgment of Paris.” The judges were the crème de la crème of French professionals. It is rumored that one of the judges tried to eat their scorecard afterward, such was the embarrassment that catapulted unknown California to fame.
Should you be so inclined, the current version of Chateau Montelena Chardonnay will run you around $75.00 a bottle locally.
“Mike” Grgich returned to Croatia as a national hero and started a small winery in 1996, Grgic Vina. His blue beret is enshrined in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. A great immigrant’s story.
HEADING WAY EAST
When you drive East on Congress Street close to Washington Avenue, look to your left across from the old Eastern Cemetery and you will see one of my all-time favorite neighborhood watering holes, a la Portland Cheers:
THE END
229 Congress Street, Portland
Open seven days from 4 p.m. – 1 a.m.
They have the best merch ever: hats and T-shirts emblazoned with an 18th Century gravestone graphic. They know your name and your drink. Headed up by Johnny Althoff, Andrew Roseman, Celeste Parke, and Ben Bazi, they are all about reasonable prices for cocktails, cold beer, and Gruner Veltliner on tap with Ben, Sid, and the crew playing up some Ramones tunes, creating a classic old school Portland vibe.
As you can see from the photo of yours truly with Ben, you can even sport your fez. Look at your receipt. It is you! “Autopilot Manhattan” for the wife and “Goddamn Box Wine” for me. And don’t forget to tip your bartender.
