Pheasant’s Tears Gorulu Mtsvane 2019

Pheasant's Tears Gorulu Mtsvane is a blend of Gorulu Mtsvane and Chinuri from organic vineyards in Kartli made in Qvevri. This bottle is slightly on the lighter side of Georgian orange wines with orchard fruit and white flowers. It also has notes of dried thyme and chrysanthemum petals, over a delicately-textured palate. Flavors of dried apricots and blossoms and assam tea tannins on the finish. Best drunk in a single session.

Pheasant’s Tears was born out of a love of authentic tradition, and culture and endless creativity. It is more than a winery, it's about songs, cuisine, art, heritage, tangible and intangible. For wine is born out of a confluence of the spirit of a place, its geology, its history, and the emotions of the vitner himself. In the end, a dialogue between nature and man, a fine tension between respect for the past and creating a new experience for tomorrow. Traditions here are seen as the nourishing soul for improvisation and respectful evolution.

All of the wines at Pheasant’s Tears are fermented and aged in qvevri, a unique Georgian vessel used to ferment and store wine.

Qvevri were the first vessels ever to be used for wine fermentation, with archaeological finds dating back to 6000 BC. Qvevriare clay vessels lined with beeswax and completely buried under the ground where the temperature stays eventhoughout the year, allowing the wines to ferment in the natural coolness of the earth.

Pheasant’s Tears qvevrivary is age but, some date back to the mid 19th C. The cellar is built in the vineyard itself to minimize the damage to the grapes in transportation, allowing us to harvest and press before the hot hours of the sun. It is usually a question of hours before the harvested grapes are already pressed and in the cool qvevri.

In accordance with Georgian traditional winemaking methods, the ripest of stems are added to the grape skins, juice and pits, for both the reds and our whites. The maceration time depends on varietal and the size of the qvevri and varies between 3 weeks and 6 months.

Since all of thewines are aged exclusively in qvevri, no flavors are imparted from oak barrels. What some might consider a lack of oak we view as an opportunity to let the quality of the grapes and the resulting wine shine through.