WINERY KHAREBA | Saperavi | Premium | 2012
saperavi

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Today we are going to review a rare wine from Georgia – Saperavi Premium 2012 by Winery Khareba. This is a single varietal saperavi wine, which is Georgia’s main red variety, from the famous Kakheti region. Saperavi is a teinturier grape variety, which means that the flesh of the berry is also dark, therefore the wines are deep in color with nuanced acidity and lots of tannin, which makes them respond well to ageing. In fact the resulting wines are so deep in color that some wineries label them as black wines instead of red. Although Georgia is the birthplace of saperavi, there are a handful of other east-european countries that also grow and produce saperavi wines, mostly due to its deep colour and nuanced leathery flavour, but enough theory, let’s move on to the tasting!
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

Visual
Very deep and opaque garnet color, with noble purple hues towards the rim of the glass.

Olfactory
The nose is strong, filled mostly with savory flavours and stone fruits: leather, iron, red currant, cranberry, sour cherry, blackberry, blue plum, marionberry, red pepper and paprika. An instant later the nose is filled with delicate notes of raw meat, allspice, lightly roasted oakwood, cold cuts, barnyard and some subtle hints of blood.

Gustatory
The wine is dry, with high alcohol level, high acidity and ripe tannin. It feels noble, extracted and meaty, with a quite dense and nuanced body. This is a well structured, complex and leathery wine, as it tastes firm and lush at the same time. The wine is well balanced, with a nuanced irony taste on the mouthfeel.

Aftertaste
It has a long finish and an balanced, irony-seedy aftertaste.
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This is definitely a fine Wine of Georgia and the overall rating says the same, with 91.0 points scored it is right there, among the best wines we’ve tasted so far. Please click on the chart icon on the left in order to get to the wine rating page, where you can find all the wines we’ve tasted to date.

Conclusion: this is a fine saperavi wine that reached its prime form – noble, well structured and leathery – a wine that can still age for another year before it will start its decline. This is a classic saperavi wine, as classic as one can be: very deep in colour, with quite appealing yet elegant notes of iron and leather and a bold yet supple body. In fact all those traits are the reason why saperavi is a very famous blending partner for other noble grape varieties such as cabernet sauvignon, merlot and malbec, as it can add structure, complexity and flavour to the final blend. In order to reach a wine and food pairing synergy, we would recommend to pair this wine with meaty dishes that are rich in irony-bloody flavours, like for example a filet mignon steak with red wine sauce, just remember to keep the filet mignon steak rare. Enjoy!

WineStatistics tasting results:

WINERY KHAREBA
Saperavi | Premium | 2012

grape: | saperavi |

region: Georgia | Kakheti

overall rating: | 91.0 |

maturity: in its prime

conclusion: fine | highly recommended

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(c) The WineStatistics ratings are based solely on our own knowledge of the world of wine and on our personal wine tastes, which may, or may not, differ from yours – the reader. There are no absolutes of right and wrong in wine appreciation.