The country of Georgia considers itself to be the birthplace of wine, with a tradition going back about 8,000 years. Wine drinkers elsewhere are still just discovering it, as Georgia’s emergence on the world’s wine lists really began with the fall of the Soviet Union. Now a Georgian red blend called Lost Eden — made by a team that includes an 11th-generation winemaker, in partnership with the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and a graduate of Cornell University — is available in the United States. The blend is dominated by saperavi, a Georgian red grape in the category teinturier, meaning the flesh, as well as the skins, are red. (Most red grapes have a light-colored flesh.) The wine is dark and earthy, with brambly flavors of wild berries. Some of the blend is aged in Georgian qvevris, a type of clay amphora listed as a World Heritage item by UNESCO. It’s sold in an unusual bottle with a vinous relief pattern.
Lost Eden Red Blend, 2018, $19.99, wine.com.
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