Cork Talk with Irakli Peradze

I mean, let's talk about the grapes because the grapes are amazing.

It's one of the reasons I love going there.

Georgia has something like 500 different grape varieties, most of which are indigenous, yeah? Uh, which are the most important in terms of plantings? Do you know?

Uh, yes.

Um, uh, as I know, uh, uh, officially, we have about, uh, uh, 525 different, uh, varieties of grape.

Of course, not all of them are, uh, good in, uh, in our business, in our wine-making.

Uh, but, and, uh, we are using about 15, uh, 16, uh, varieties of grape from different, uh, region of Georgia.

And, uh, of course, I have some, my favorites.

So, uh, uh-

Tell me, tell me your favorites in a minute.

Yes.

Uh-

But what, what's the split between reds and whites? Is it, is it mostly whites or it's mostly reds because Kakheti's so big, yeah?

Yes.

Uh, um, um, if you ask, uh, i- if you are asking about, uh, from a population point of view, uh, uh, Rkatsiteli, um, uh, red, uh, white, uh, varieties of grape is the most populated-

Mm-hmm

... uh, uh, grape varieties in Georgia.

Uh, but for me, the most interesting is the Saperavi.

Uh, Saperavi is a red grape, and I would say that it's one of the, one of the best, uh, uh, among Georgian varieties of grape.

I mean, it, it's interesting, Saperavi, because it's quite adaptable, isn't it? You can make lots of different styles with it, but it's got a lot of personality and concentration-

Yeah

... and it makes wines that evolve, that age very well in bottle.

Exactly.

So we have, uh, currently, we are, uh, collecting, uh, uh, uh, let me tell you that all Saperavis, they are from East Georgia-

Yeah