Mtsvane, Pheasant's Tears, Tibaani - 2020

Are you one of those lucky few who have been initiated into the pleasures of traditional Georgian amber wine? Most likely that introduction came via the Rkatsiteli grape--but why stay put when Georgia (as might be expected of a vineyard so close to Noah's first near Ararat) boasts the greatest biodiversity of grape varieties per hectare in the world? This Mtsvane is a compelling study vis-à-vis the Rkatsiteli, showing slightly less extraction from the skins and more spicy, beguiling aromatics. Those who proclaim that skin-contact, qvevri-raised amber wines suffer from a distressing sameness ought heed the words of John Wurdeman, the folk-song collector, painter, and Georgian cultural ambassador behind Pheasant's Tears: if they all taste the same to you, it's because you don't drink enough of them.