Khvanchkara
Chwantschkara ( georg .: ხვანჭკარა) - also spelled Khvanchkara - is a lovely red wine that comes from northern Georgia . It takes its name from the cultivation area around the village of Chwantschkara, which is located in the historical province of Ratscha , today part of the region of Ratscha-Letschchumi and Lower Svaneti . A wine may only bear the name "Chwantschkara" if it comes from this growing area. For historical reasons it is especially popular in the successor states of the Soviet Union .
Manufacturing
Chwantschkara is made from a blend of the Alexandruli and Mujuretuli grape varieties . In contrast to many other Georgian wines , they are aged in steel tanks and not the traditional Quevri method .
taste
The Chwantschkara has a strong bouquet that is reminiscent of strawberries and a gentle taste typical of lovely wines.
history
Chvanchkara was first made in 1907. The wine gained increasing popularity, especially during the Soviet era , mainly because the dictator Josef Stalin declared the two Georgian wines Chwantschkara and Kindsmarauli to be his favorite wines . In recent times, Georgian wine exporters in particular regard this as a marketing problem, as Western product descriptions of wine very often refer to the dictator's taste in wine. With the attempts to connect Georgian wines in the public perception with southern joie de vivre and Caucasian hospitality and also with today's Georgian self-image, this connection with the former dictator is completely incompatible.
literature
- Hugh Johnson: The Great Johnson - The Encyclopedia of Wines, Regions , and Winemakers of the World ISBN 3774251517
- Heinz Fähnrich: Georgian Wine: Short Stories from Chorochi to Diklos Mta ISBN 3832282203
- Jancis Robinson: The Oxford Wine Lexicon ISBN 3833806915