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Kisi is a white-wine grape originating in Kakheti, a region in the southeast of what is now the Republic of Georgia. It is a rather good wine, but so little known that even Wikipedia and Wine Searcher have no pages for it.
Nowadays, Kisi wines are made in two distinct styles: traditional, which involves fermentation in qvevri, and modern, following standard European winemaking methods. Either way, Kisi wines show floral aromas and flavors of tree fruit (apples and pears), often so intense that the wines, though quite dry, seem off-dry. Traditionally vinified Kisi wines tend to show further complex flavors, notably apricot, orange, and even mint.
(Note that in the “Descriptions” below, many refer to particular Kisi wines, owing to the scarcity of published material dealing with Kisi wines in general.)
All in all, it looks like Kisis is quite a little gem of a wine, and as yet almost wholy undiscovered in the U.S.
Factoid: Kisi is another of the growing number of so-called “orange wines”.
“A straw-coloured wine when produced in the European style, the nose is quite floral with flavours of pear, citrus and green tea on the palate; the amber Qvevri wines reveal more apricot, mango, and lime, orange and walnut character. Some producers believe it to be capable of producing finer, more expressive wines than Rkatsiteli.”
“Kisi garners far less international attention [than Rkatsiteli], and is a lesser produced varietal as well. In fact the grape’s reputation is small enough it shows up in few wine books…The flavors here are both floral and fruit driven with the thickening of date flavors and smoke showing as well. The acidity on this kisi is medium bringing a nice complement to the medium-plus tannin. So, here you have a wine with pleasing mouth feel, that dries your mouth but keeps it just watered enough to allow the wine’s flavors to show through.”
“Crystal clear and bright amber in the glass with generous aromas of earth and iron. Clean pinpoint flavors of iron, earth and sassafras are supported by bright acidity and bit of drying tannins. Even with those tannins, this wine is etherial and it has a long finish. We noticed even more complex and delicious flavors on day two.”
“Disappointment is always a risk with a bottle that has been so patiently hoarded. But in this case, the fireworks more than detonated and the wine proved everything I’d ever suspected about qvevri wines’ ability to age. If only I’d been smart enough to photograph the glass, as the colour remained a sensational and deeply tinted orange amber. It’s almost impossible to describe the flavours and aromas – autumnal sensations of peaches, papayas and khaki fruits perhaps, but transformed with age into something more herbal or balsamic. Texturally, this Kisi 2010 [drunk in 2019] was the equal of top Barolos or left-bank Bordeaux, with that wonderful sensation of tannin and grip, yet so fine grained and elegant that there was no hint of astringency. I don’t want to push the red wine references too far though. Because what this glorious amber wine really showed was that perfect combination of a white grape’s salivating acidity with the depth, profundity and structure born of skins and stems. No red or white wine could ever press all these buttons at the same time.”
“[A] gold colour but this has no aromas that would make me think sweet wine. It smells of fresh guavas. It is strongly tannic (but not so aggressively that it would take the fun out of the wine) and has the bite of an alligator. Yeah. I like it…Buy again? Certainly.”
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Some Descriptions of Kisi Wines
“A straw-coloured wine when produced in the European style, the nose is quite floral with flavours of pear, citrus and green tea on the palate; the amber Qvevri wines reveal more apricot, mango, and lime, orange and walnut character. Some producers believe it to be capable of producing finer, more expressive wines than Rkatsiteli.”
“Kisi garners far less international attention [than Rkatsiteli], and is a lesser produced varietal as well. In fact the grape’s reputation is small enough it shows up in few wine books…The flavors here are both floral and fruit driven with the thickening of date flavors and smoke showing as well. The acidity on this kisi is medium bringing a nice complement to the medium-plus tannin. So, here you have a wine with pleasing mouth feel, that dries your mouth but keeps it just watered enough to allow the wine’s flavors to show through.”
“Crystal clear and bright amber in the glass with generous aromas of earth and iron. Clean pinpoint flavors of iron, earth and sassafras are supported by bright acidity and bit of drying tannins. Even with those tannins, this wine is etherial and it has a long finish. We noticed even more complex and delicious flavors on day two.”
“Disappointment is always a risk with a bottle that has been so patiently hoarded. But in this case, the fireworks more than detonated and the wine proved everything I’d ever suspected about qvevri wines’ ability to age. If only I’d been smart enough to photograph the glass, as the colour remained a sensational and deeply tinted orange amber. It’s almost impossible to describe the flavours and aromas – autumnal sensations of peaches, papayas and khaki fruits perhaps, but transformed with age into something more herbal or balsamic. Texturally, this Kisi 2010 [drunk in 2019] was the equal of top Barolos or left-bank Bordeaux, with that wonderful sensation of tannin and grip, yet so fine grained and elegant that there was no hint of astringency. I don’t want to push the red wine references too far though. Because what this glorious amber wine really showed was that perfect combination of a white grape’s salivating acidity with the depth, profundity and structure born of skins and stems. No red or white wine could ever press all these buttons at the same time.”
“The nose has everything from cooked plums, to toffee and caramel. Generous stone fruit and quite full bodied.”
“[A] gold colour but this has no aromas that would make me think sweet wine. It smells of fresh guavas. It is strongly tannic (but not so aggressively that it would take the fun out of the wine) and has the bite of an alligator. Yeah. I like it…Buy again? Certainly.”