Red semi-sweet wine Kindzmarauli in questions and answers

Not surprising! A bottle of kindzmarauli will cost $ 10, and even semi-fakes, and outright “crap” in the markets by the shaft. For such money it is quite possible to take a decent French or Italian wine, and the most that neither is real.

However, there is one big BUT. Real kindzmarauli is not just “quite decent” wine, it is first-class wine. Yes, it costs 2-3 times more than the simple versions of Saperavi, Tsinandali or the dubious Alazani Valley. But after all, Shakhrin sang about him, Yevtushenko wrote, it was him – according to rumors – that Stalin loved, it was Kindzmarauli, and not Mukuzani, Tvishi and not even Khvanchkara, who is directly associated with Georgia – all this is not without reason, comrades!

Today we will learn everything about Kindzmarauli – how to distinguish a fake and choose a wine from a good producer for sane money; how it is done, what is unique; how it appeared and developed; how and with what snack it is better to drink it. But we won’t talk about how to make kindzmarauli – even with the right grapes, you won’t be able to repeat it with your own hands. So today on the “Romov” pure theory – we sit down comfortably and enjoy the fruits of the hands of strangers!

The name “Kindzmarauli” has been controlled by origin since 2012, Georgia owns the exclusive right to this unique drink.

• Region. Kindzmarauli is made from the Saperavi grape variety, in the vicinity of the city of Kvareli, near the confluence of the Durudzhi River in Alazani.

Over the millennia of flooding rivers flooding the valleys, a unique soil has formed in the microzone. Even the color of the earth here is unusual – gray-blue, it contains a fair amount of chalk, mineral fertilizers, even silver and gold. Add to this the mountain sun, air, subtropical climate – and you get a unique saperavi, sweeter and richer than in the rest of Georgia. By the way, the area of ​​the microzone is only 120 hectares, which explains the high price of wine – it’s just that we can’t make enough of it to cover the demand.

• Grapes. Saperavi is harvested in the first three weeks of September.

By this time, the berries are gaining up to 22% sugar. Such sweetness of raw materials allows to make naturally semi-sweet wine, without adding additional sugar and fortification. Yeast will gobble up as much fructose as they can, ferment the required 11-12 degrees and die, and the remaining unfermentable sugar will form a pleasant velvety taste characteristic of wine.

• Technology. Wine is made using a unique Kakhetian method – in clay kvevri dug into the ground. In any case, this is how it should be done.

This way provides long-term (up to 2 years) fermentation at low temperatures (+12..+14^оC), along with bones, twigs and skins. At the same time, the wine acquires an extremely high saturation with extractive substances, strong astringency, expressiveness, complex taste and aroma, characteristic of Kindzmarauli, due to the increased content of polyphenols.

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By wine standards – just a child. The history of Kindzmarauli dates back only to 1942. Then the old semi-handicraft factory in Kvareli was reorganized, modernized and produced a trial batch of new wine. The name for it was chosen according to the area of ​​production – in Georgian, “Kindzmarauli” means something like “cilantro valley” or “area where cilantro grows.” One way or another, the drink was to your taste – its popularity quickly grew to the all-Union, and now it is striving for a global scale.

But in fact, wines in Kakheti and Kvareli in particular have been made, of course, from time immemorial. Saperavi is an autochthonous grape variety bred specifically in Georgia, the Kakhetian method of production is also more than one hundred years old, it is reliably known that already in the 1533th-1942th centuries Georgians knew how to make naturally semi-sweet wines. Another proof: the oldest building on the territory of the Kindzmarauli Corporation, the legal heir to that very first Soviet factory, dates back to XNUMX. So, most likely, a rebranding took place in XNUMX, and the wine itself or its analogues were produced in much earlier times.

Your humble servant did a little research and found no direct evidence that Kindzmarauli was Stalin’s favorite wine. However, there are no rebuttals either. Yes, the “Kremlin highlander” did not disdain wine, and preferred Georgian varieties. It is known for sure that Khvanchkara was delivered to his table – also naturally semi-sweet. He had some obscure relation to the reorganization of the Kvareli winery. But so as not to have a soul in Kindzmarauli …

At the time of the release of the first batch of wine, Stalin was already 64 years old, and even the war was in full swing. It is unlikely that an elderly person would drastically change his taste preferences in such conditions. Most likely, there was a promotion of the new brand by all available means, implicated in the Georgian origin of the dictator and generously seasoned with a cult of personality. Anyway, now this … ahem, controversial the figure clearly does not do honor to kindzmarauli – wine already has everything to have an excellent reputation.

If a bottle of kidzmarauli costs $10, sometimes a little less, then the average cost of Khvanchkara is 2 times more. However, this does not at all make the subject of our today’s discussion a “poor kvanchkara”. The difference between Khvanchkara and Kindzmarauli is enormous. In fact, these are two completely different wines, from different grapes, different regions, with different technologies. Compare:

Logically, the most characteristic wine should be produced by Kindzmarauli Corporation (AGMARTI trademark). It was established in 1992 on the basis of the Kvareli winery. Today, however, this producer, as one wine expert put it, “aims for enduring mediocrity.” Of course, we are talking only about ordinary, non-vintage, more or less budget versions of wine.

According to most connoisseurs, the best producers are the Shumi and Khareba factories – SHUMI and WINERY KHAREBA, respectively. Their drinks are distinguished by their originality and brightness, and at the same time – in full compliance with the canon. The price is above average.

Not particularly outstanding, but also quite canonical and tasty types of Kindzmarauli are produced by “strong middle peasants”: Badagoni, Tetroni, Galavani. And the list is closed by such manufacturers as Alaverdi, Teliani Veli, Merani, Santeli and many others. Some factories often do not even have vineyards in the Kindzmarauli microzone and therefore are a priori unable to produce original wine. However, it may well be quite good and cannot be called a fake. It’s just not Kindzmarauli.

Pfft, how! There are also semi-fakes, like the “Georgian” wine Didi Godori, which is produced on the territory of Ukraine, in the Kherson region. It was at Kindzmarauli that they did not aim, but still. It makes no sense to list such manufacturers – there are hundreds of them. Just always, ALWAYS read the label carefully. Kindzmarauli should be made not in Moldova, Krasnodar or Dagestan, but in Georgian Kakheti, more specifically in the Kvareli municipality, even more specifically in the Kindzmarauli microzone. Any differences: by grape variety, production area, alcohol-sugar, various additional inscriptions in small print, somehow “made according to the recipe” should arouse suspicion.

Of course, there is also a frank unscrupulous counterfeit. But here I will not go into detail on how to distinguish a fake under Kindzmarauli – most of us survived the 90s and should have a certain degree of “loho-resistance”. Just buy from trusted manufacturers, follow the excise tax, the quality of the printing house and do not be fooled by too low prices – and you will be happy.

Oh, the most interesting! With what to drink such an extraordinary wine as kindzmarauli is a big question. Most sources advise traditional Georgian dishes for it – from lobio and pkhali to game, chicken dishes, grilled meat. We also send cheeses with suluguni at the head here. However, there is a subtle aspect to this issue – for a classic feast in Georgia, there are excellent dry wines that perfectly shade and emphasize the taste of food.

Spicy, sour-sweet-spicy dishes can easily overpower the taste of this refined wine and deprive you of the lion’s share of the pleasure of drinking it. So for food – crackers. And the red semi-sweet wine Kindzmarauli is better to drink as a digestif, after the feast. You can serve it with, for example, fruits – plums, peaches, fruit grapes – or soft unobtrusive desserts without chocolate, pastries. And in general, in this case, accompaniment is not at all necessary – just take a glass of Kindzmarauli chilled to 14-18 degrees (the simpler the wine, the lower the temperature), make a long, beautiful toast and enjoy!