International wine-venture: United Stars, Alazanis Valley Semi-Sweet Red, Koncho Winery, City of Kvareli, Georgia

I've wanted to try wine from Georgia (the country) for a while. This is probably because for a long time, it had never occured to me that Georgia made wine. But it does! In fact, some claim it has been making wine since 7000 BC, which is a very long time indeed. It used to be the wine cellar of the Soviet Union, but then that ended, and between trade restrictions and war Russia stopped buying their wine (they had previously made up 80% of their export markett). This is of course quite obviously bad news for Georgia and their wine makers, but on the very-slightly good news side, it's forced them to up their quality and become competitive in a broader market (including Canada, which stocks up to 12 different Georgian wines). Their wine markets' profits have supposedly almost recovered,and the quality has apparently markedly improved.

And so, I decided to go on a wine-venture into untrod territories. It was hard to even find other reviews to suggest what I should expect. But when you wine-venture, you should never travel alone, and so I brought G and E along for the ride (with the promise that if they didn't like it, I would bring a well-reviewed Rose as well!). For a wine-venture, this turned out to be successful! Using my new rating system, even E drank it willingly. At $13.95 a bottle, it is a little pricier than some wines we've tried, but it was unique and very drinkable. It won over our non-red wine drinkers even! So next time you are feeling adventerous, keep Georgia on your mind!

A - This wine smells like a nice red wine (fruity and rich, not floral or alcohol-y). It tastes like a slightly less robust red, it is not forceful or grapey. It is fruity, like raspberries and strawberries, but isn't particularily woody or oaky. It is a quite sweet but very drinkable wine. It is also a very dark purple colour, but light-tasting for its colour. I would drink it again, though it is a lighter red. I was inclined to think it was more of a summer wine, but it stood up well to dinner (beef stew with biscuits), so it can act as a sipper or stand up to a meaty dinner (I guess this makes sense in hindsight).

E - This wine has no bite, like I have come to expect from red wines. I taste it more at the back of my tongue than the front of it. It is sweet and I would drink it.

G - This is a pleasant wine, it is nice and I am not ususally a huge fan of reds, but this one is nice. It has kind of a metallic aftertaste. It matched well with the stew as well, so was a good choice for dinner.