Saperavi

Saperavi is Georgia's most important red wine making variety. Unlike most red wine grape varieties which have light colored flesh, Saperavi also contains the red anthrocyanin in the flesh as well as the skin. The result is a wine similar to that of the Teinturier varieities. By contrast to Teinturier, whose strong color is used in blends to add intensity, Saperavi is commonly made into a varietal wine. Becuase of its high acidity and phenolic compounds, it is capable and sometimes demanding of extensive bottle aging, sometimes up to 50 years.