Aladasturi Red Dry 2013 Special Collection - wine from western Georgia

Aladasturi red dry wine is an exclusive vintage, premium wine made from a rare Georgian grape variety – Aladusturi – from the Imereti region in western Georgia. The grape variety is indigenous to the Guria region of Georgia on the western coast, and is also grown in Imereti, especialy in the villages of the Vani and Samtredia regions. The grape variety is also grown in Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine.

The 2013 harvest in Georgia produced 25,000 bottles. The wine is a dark garnet colour with fruit and berry tones.

The Aladasturi grape has the ability to climb high trees and is a late ripener with a long vegetation season, according to the Georgian Traditional Wine Federation. Vines are cultivated on the hills, and the local population use the grapes for high quality table wine, while also keeping grapes for winter consumption. Aladasturi is successfully used as a local table wine, because it has good transportability and preservation qualities.

A vinery survey in 1953 indicated that the territory of Aladasturi planted in western Georgia was 60.8 hectares (150 acres). Of this, hills accounted for 45.2 hectares (111 acres) with alleys accounting for 15.6 hectares (39 acres).

The vines are grown on high posts. The leaves are light green on the upper side with a yellow tint, and a reddish tone on the under side. The second and third leaves are light green to violet in colour. The mature leaves are rounded or slightly oval, and are larger than average – 16.6 to 20.3 centimetres long (6.5 to 8 inches) and about 16.2 centimetres wide (6 inches).

The flower is hemaphroditic with five pistils (and occasionally 4, 6, or 7 pistils). The number of flowers is between 300-900. The bunches of grapes are, on average, about 7-10 centimetres long (3-4 inches) and 6-9 centimetres wide (2.5 to 3.5 inches). The grapes have about one to four light brown seeds.

Western Georgia has a warm and humid climate. The long vegetation season is abut 201-2015 days, and if the fall of the leaves is counted, it is 239-240 days. The season starts from early April, with flowering from early June, and ends before 15 June. Grape bunches start appearing at the end of August or at the beginning of September, and ripen from the end of October. Leaves begin to fall in mid-November until the end of November or early December.

Despite the late harvest (at the end of October), the sugar content does not exceed 21.5%, but is mostly 20%. This may be due to the large amount of sediments during the maturation stage and the increased amount of water in the seeds. It has a total acidity of 8.5% to 9.4%, and from this ratio of sugar-acidity it is possible to make quite a high quality of wine. The alcohol content averages 10.8%.

From all of this, according to the Georgian Traditional Wine Federation – and I agree – Aladasturi wine has ‘a light red colour, quite rounded and harmonic, with a specific-type taste and surplus acidity.’

The Aladasturi grape variety usually yields a production from the third year of planting. It gives a complete harvest from the fifth year of planting. Aladasturi is characterized by abundant productivity. The amount of fruit-giving sprouts averages 76%. The harvest of one bunch from stick formation reaches about 9 kilograms on the hills – but on lowlands one root does not exceed 2 kilograms. Sprouts originating from old branches of a vine do not usually yield a crop.

The Georgian Traditional Wine Federation gives Aladasturi a ‘place of honor’ with a ‘high index of production, is characterized by strong growth development, ability of easy adaptation toward environmental conditions, and abundant productivity.’ On the down-side Aladasturi has a weak durability against iodium ‘but this pest can be discouraged by an additional injection of sulphur during the vegetation period.’  

It is therefore best grown in western Georgia, in eastern Guria and Upper Imereti, regions ‘richly lit by the sun’ and on south-facing slopes where the soil consists of quite an amount of calcium-carbonate.

Visitors to Georgia are more familiar with the wine region of eastern Georgia – the Kakheti region – and here the Aladasturi grape variety is only grown on collective farms, such as in the educational farm of Vasiani in the Mtskheta district, the Institute of Viticulture and Oenology of Telavi Experimental Station, and the educational farm of Dighomi on the outskirts of Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi.

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).