If you are attending the Boston Wine Expo on February 14th or 15th, you will find the most unique wines produced by wineries from the country Georgia. Although there are plantings of international grapes in the country, they are in a minority. For members of the trade, media and consumers that take notes, writing the varietal grape names can be daunting. Then there are the Georgian appellations. In the country south of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, appellations define a geographical location. They also define a wine. So if a bottle has the name Tsinandali, it is not the name of a varietal grape but the name of an appellation. Furthermore it is defined as a dry white wine blend of Rkatsiteli and Kakhuri Mtsvane grapes from Tsinandali in the Kakheti region of Georgia. That’s a lot of writing for the note takers.

Last year’s International Wine Tourism Conference was held in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. On a previous trip to Georgia, I struggled with grape names and appellations. For the conference, I created a crib sheet for the media group. You may find the crib sheet helpful when visiting Georgian producers at the Boston Wine Expo. The grapes are numbered. Instead of writing the name of a grape, you can quickly write its number.

White Grapes
1. Chinuri
2. Goruli Mtsvane
3. Khikhvi
4. Kisi
5. Krakhun
6. Kudurauli
7. Kakhuri Mtsvane
8. Rkatsiteli
9. Tsitska
10. Tsolikouri

Red Grapes
21. Aladasturi
22. Aleksandrouli
23. Budeshuri
24. Dzelshavi
25. Kapistoni
26. Mujurentuli
27. Otskhanuri Sapere
28. Saperavi
29. Shavkapito
30. Tavkveri
31. Usakhelouri

There are a number of appellations in Georgia.

Don’t let the names cause you to shy away from the Georgian wine producers. There are some of the most unique wines that you discover at the expo.

Cheers,
Terry