Pheasant’s Tears Vardisperi Rkatsiteli 2024

Pheasant's Tears works in Kakheti, the eastern Georgian region that is the spiritual home of amber wine and the qvevri tradition. This bottling comes from Rkatsiteli, the country's most planted white grape, a high-acid variety well suited to long skin contact. The wine is made the ancient way, with whole bunches fermenting on their skins, pips and stems inside egg-shaped clay vessels buried to the neck in the cellar floor. Nine months of this extended maceration draws out phenolics and tannin from the skins, giving the wine its amber colour and firm structure, while the porous clay allows a slow, gentle oxidative development without any new oak character. Farming is natural and organic, with native yeasts and no additions. Expect a deep amber colour and a savoury nose of dried apricot, orange peel and walnut over a base of dried herbs and earth. The palate is dry and grippy, with stone-fruit weight balanced by brisk acidity and a tannic, slightly bitter finish. Serve at around 14 to 16 degrees in a broad glass to let the aromatics open. It suits roast pork, herb-roasted chicken and harder nutty cheeses.