by Patrick Ogle

Iago Chinuri is a dry Georgian white wine from the cradle of wine making. Georgia (the country, not the U.S. state) is in the Caucasus where wine making may have started.

There is honey, spice and melon on the nose. It almost smells like a sweet wine (even though it is  dry). I had the sensation of residuual sugar but if there is it is just a hint and it may be an illusion created by the honey flavor. There is a hint of bitterness deep in this wine which is part of why it makes such a good food wine. It also has a really big, viscous mouth-feel.  Mouth-feel means just what the term sounds like--how the wine feels in your mouth.

This would go well with spicy food. It has decent acidity but it isn't super high? I made something based on a Morrocan recipie (with nutmeg) and it worked fabulously. Middle Eastern food, Ethiopian food both would be good matches with this. 

When folks who know wine hear "Georgian wine" they think of orange wines. These are not wines made from oranges rather white wines that are produced using skin contact. Basically (and this is quite basic) red wine comes from skin contact. If you press the grapes and take the skins away? The wine is white regardless of the grape. With red skinned grapes the pressed grapes are left in contact with the skins to impart the "red" color. With white grapes the skins are usually separated but in an orange wine? The skins are left in like with a red wine. 

This isn't an orange wine. It doesn't have skin contact but you can really get how it would taste if it were. Iago produces an orange wine made from this same grape. 

by Patrick Ogle

Orealios Gaea "San Gerasimo" Cephalonia Robola (2017) has something green on the nose mixed with hints of floral. I swear this called to mind a field of wild flowers or orange blossoms. Maybe it is a little more subtle than orange blossoms. What does a lemon blossom smell like? I don't know. The wine is crisp acidic and minerally with peach and apricot in the mix.

As it warmed up the hints of herbal greenness came out more. I also immediately thought; "This reminds me of a sea breeze." I kind of discount this because I know the wine is from an island so my imagination might be running away with me. Imagination is, of course, a good thing, even when it comes to wine. Wine should spur the imagination.

This is a wine you could sit on the back porch and drink on a summer day. It would also be a nice wine to have with Mediteranean fare. I am not just saying this because it is Greek. It would be great with Greek food but also falafel. I kept thinking I wanted something with tahini sauce.

Robola is apparently grown mostly on the island of Cephalonia. I wasn't able to find out tons about the history of the grape--aside from some "they used to think it was related to this or that but now they don't." Ribolla Gialla was the mail grape that was thought to be synonymous or related. Again , apparently it isn't.

It certainly isn't a big abberration for Greek whites. It has unique qualities but has the minerality, acidity and hints of the floral you expect. As always? If you haven't heard of Ribola? Don't be afraid of it. You can get a bottle of this particular wine for under $20.