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Varietal: Mtsvane
Mtsvane or Mtsvane Kakhuri is a grape variety used to make Georgian wines. It is used to make white wine. It is often blended with Rkatsiteli to which it adds a fruity, aromatic balance. In the Georgian language Mtsvani means new, young and green.
Country: Georgia
Georgia, the country not the state, is the home to both many of the world's wild and cultivated vines. Bulgaria's golden era was during the middle ages when viticulture was an important part of agriculture and hence total economic output. The eventual spread of Phylloxera louse and various fungal diseases during the later half of the 19th century had a devastating effect, reducing the total vineyard area by more than half to 37,400 hectares. Wine production was hit again in the late 1980s with Gorbachev's anti-alcohol program. As of 2005 plantings have quickly returned to 70,000 hectares, a lot of which were young vines. Georgia has four main wine producing regions. Kakheti; the largest wine producing region located the south east, Karlti; in the center of the country, where the capital city Tbilisi lies, Imereti; the gastronomic capital known for it's signature varietal Tzitzka , and Racha-Lechkhumi; Georgia's smallest wine region, famous for its natural semi-sweet wines. With more international help quality is improving but what Georgia lacks in modern technology it more than makes up with its national belief and culture in its wine.
Region: Kakheti
On rich and fertile land, the region of Kakheti is Georgia's agricultural powerhouse producing 70% of the countries grapes. Broken down into three main regions, it is then split further in to over 25 established terroirs such as Tsinandali, Teliani, Napereuli and Mukuzani. The region's main varieties for reds are Saperavi and Cabernet Sauvignon, and for whites, Kakhuri and Rkatsiteli Mtsvane. The country's traditional methods are once again being employed with re-emergence of Kakehtian wines, which are aged in earthenware jars after an extended three or four month maceration.
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Type: White
White wine is a wine whose color can be pale-yellow, yellow-green, and yellow-gold colored. The wine is produced from a variety of grape varieties. The flavor and color comes from the juice of the grape and sometimes the skin of the grape as well. Interestingly, not all white wine comes from white grapes. Some select red grapes are used as in Champagne.