Pheasant’s Tears Kisi 2024

Georgia is one of the oldest wine countries on earth, and Pheasant's Tears works in its eastern region of Kakheti using methods passed down across millennia. This wine is made from Kisi, an indigenous white grape, vinified as a traditional orange wine. The fruit comes from the warm continental valleys of Kakheti, where hot summers and cool nights give ripe grapes with firm acidity. The wine spends nine months fermenting and ageing on its skins in qvevri, the large clay vessels buried in the ground that hold a steady cool temperature. That long maceration extracts substantial phenolics and tannin, while the prolonged contact with skins, pips and stems builds the savoury, structured character that defines qvevri wine. The buried clay allows slow oxidative development without oak. The wine is deep amber, with a nose of dried apricot, orange marmalade and walnut. The palate is dry and grippy, with stone-fruit depth, dried herbs and an earthy, peppery finish carried by real tannin. Natural and organic, it is a wine that drinks like a light red. Serve at 14 to 16 degrees in a red-wine glass, with roast pork or a hard mountain cheese.