It is about a completely unexpected discovery on a warm, rainy day of 18 September 2021. A couple of friends and I decided to attend a local wine festival. ‘Winiarze i Przyjaciele’ (‘Winemakers & Friends’) is hosted in different Polish wineries throughout the year, with the main festivity happening in August / September at a racecourse here in Wrocław.
The idea behind it is to promote regional winemakers and have a lovely weekend: taste all sorts of Polish wines, catch up with friends, enjoy what you love.
As we arrived at the scene, we bought ourselves our wine tasting glasses, a couple of sets of coupons that serve as a currency that you exchange for portions of whatever wine you fancy, and started looking around.
Poland is mostly a white wine country due to its climate not being exactly perfect for growing grape varieties that would make for a great red. And there I am, a red wine ‘connoisseur’, standing thither, seeking for something of magnificent gustatory sensation. Grander experience.
My gaze catches a stand with not-too-Polish-looking letters. Something mysterious. Foreign.
I recognize it. It is definitely a Georgian alphabet. I leave my friends and approach it.
[You can tell I’m writing this while listening to the epic creations of my favourite modern composer – Peter Gundry, can’t you?]
As I’m being greeted by a man, presumably of Georgian nationality, I notice this beautifully designed label. ‘Kindzmaruli’… I know that word… I vividly flashback to my parents saying it is a remarkable wine, back when I was a little kiddo who couldn’t care less about it.
I kindly ask for a tasting portion of that particular bottle…
That day, I drank only THAT Kindzmarauli.
What is Kindzmarauli wine?
Kindzmarauli is a subregion of Kakheti, Georgia. Located on the southwest bank of the Alazani river. It is one of the country’s 18 official wine appellations, home to naturally semi-sweet wines made from the saperavi grape variety.
Don’t let the ‘sweet’ part of the description put you off, however. I’m the biggest dry wine drinker myself, and I wouldn’t usually touch sweet wines, but the bottle I’m going to tell you more about is definitely an exception.
Georgian Wine House
First, let’s start by looking at the winery that produced that bottle. Georgian Wine House.
Founded in 1996 in Gori, Georgia, GWH keeps its full production cycle in-house: starting from growing and harvesting grapes on their 150 hectares of vineyards to final bottling of more than 6 million units every year.
If you ever happen to travel to Tbilisi, visiting their wine showroom and bar ‘Grape Wine & Kitchen’ should become one of your mini-destinations. Well, at least it is undoubtedly amongst mine.
Alexandrov Wine Collection by GWH
‘Alexandrov Wine Collection’ is one of GWH’s premium brands, named after Dimitry Alexandrov, their head of company, according to the official description. However, I failed to find any mention of the man on their website or anywhere else on the internet, for that matter, so I’m uncertain whether that is pure marketing or not.
Kindzmarauli from Alexandrov Wine Collection’s portfolio
Appellation-controlled, semi-sweet, red. Perfect for pairing with soft cheeses, nuts, dried fruits or to be consumed solo. In my opinion, suits both cold winter environments and warm summer nights. Effortless to drink yet ‘dangerous’ due to the 12% of alcohol hiding inside the bottle.
Must be tasted, especially by those who otherwise hate sweet wines. GWH’s take on Kindzmarauli within their AWC product line definitely receives the title ‘The nectar of gods’ in my personal ranking for its sweetness equilibrium.
Vivino users seem to also have fallen in love with it, since it is ranked amongst top 1% of wines in the world and top 1% of wines from Kindzmarauli.
Sadly, it seems like it’s extremely hard to get your hands on this bottle if you live outside of Georgia or russia…
Epilogue
I hope you enjoyed this little story of mine. For complete transparency, I’m not affiliated with the GWH brand and the recommendation is based purely on my experience with the given bottle.
If you ever happen to visit the ‘Winiarze i Przyjaciele’ festival here in Wrocław, Poland – hit me up, it would be fantastic to catch up over a glass of beautiful Polish wine!