A rather interesting article in the June W&S Magazine by TaraThomas on the Qvervi-made wines of Georgia. Sorry...no link to the article yet. Of course, SweetAlice plays a central role in the article w/ her learned & definitive pronouncements on the subject.
A couple of points I found interesting:
1. Most of us are most familiar w/ the skin-contact/qvervi-made whites of Georgia. Yet they constitute less than 1% of the Georgian wines exported. Hmmmmm...where all all those stainless steel & cement vat whites going to?? The former genre is the one I see the most of. These are, of course, the kind of Georgian wines that SweetAlice proselytizes upon. Maybe she is much more influential in the wine world than I gave her credit for and she's not just a whiny crank.
2. Georgia has over 500 known grape varieties, but only a small proportion are actually used in winemaking. This is, of course, the birthplace of winemaking, so guess I shouldn't be surprised. Many of the Somms (w/ well-curated wine lists) quoted are very excited by the future for Georgian wines.
3. The question is raised/asked that if qvervi is the best way forward for Georgian white wines, as opposed to conventional stainless and concrete tank ferments. Lisa Granik MW (who she?) asserts that qvervi is a great equalizer of white wines and "it's harder to distinguish between one grape variety and another in qvervi wines. The delicate aromatics get lost".
This is sorta my take on skin-contact whites. They tend to have a common phenolic (as I call it) character and the varietal character is obliterated...at least for those whites w/ extend skin macerations. It takes a delicate balance to get a bit of that skin-contact phenolic character along w/ some of the varietal aromatics.
I find it of interest that SweetAlice is such a huge proponent of qvervi ferments, when it brings a certain degree of homogeniety to the wines. This from the lady that saved us and the World from Parkerized wines...as homogeneous a class of wines as you can find.
Lisa raises the issue that maybe skin-contact/qvervi ferments may be better for some Georgian varieties and conventional ferments, w/ their greater aromatics, might be better for other varieties. Good point and she may be right. I find Rkatsiteli a rather dull & ordinary wine and they are more interesting w/ qvervi ferments. Hmmmm....wonder what you could do w/ ThompsonSeedless w/ skin-contact/qvervi ferments??
Anyway....an interesting read I thought. Buy a copy on the newstand or wait for it to come out online.
Tom