FOOD & DRINK
A Wine for the Ages Pawt u cket d istributor S aperavi USA bri n gs anc ie nt Ge o rg ian w i ne to Rho de Isl a nd By Kare n Greco
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n 2017, the academic journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published a study that named Georgia, a tiny countr y on the coast of the Black Sea, the oldest winemaking region in the world. Wine residue was found on potter y shards that dated back to 6,000 B.C. It was an extraordinar y find that took the wine world by surprise, but not the Georgians. “Georgia was the Napa Valley of the Soviet Union,” says Gayle Corrigan, who launched Saperavi USA (named for the unique Georgian grape used in their wines that has red skin and red flesh) in 2020 specifically to bring Georgian wine to the US. Corrigan, a Rhode Island native, was raised during the height of the Cold War when many Soviet Jews emigrated to the US. Her father, a teacher at Hope High School, invited the newly settled students and their families over for Thanksgiving , which sparked friendships that remain to this day. In 1989, Corrigan left to attend the University of Rochester, majoring in Russian political science, studying the former USSR . “It was still the Soviet Union back then, and things with Gorbachev were really heating up,” she says. While traveling around the countr y during her stay, she met a group of Georgian students who invited her and a friend to join them at a feast. “ We show up and the table is just full of so
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From the grapevines of Georgia to Rhode Island, Saperavi USA distributes wine from top makers much food, which was amazing at that time, because this was the Soviet Union, and there were chronic food shortages. They had this homemade wine. I don’t think I’ve ever had something so delicious.” Corrigan lived in Russia for seven years, eventually returning to Rhode Island with her Georgian husband and kids. But she missed the international connection she had living in Europe and she wanted to bring some of that stateside. A visit to the Georgian Wine Symposium in Texas led her on a connoisseur’s tour of the tiny countr y, culminating in a four-day inter view with Giorgi Khatiashvili, one of Georgia’s top winemakers. “He wanted to make sure we were worthy of bringing this wine to the US,” she says. “ Wine is revered ; it’s part of their life,” she continues, noting that Georgians have the highest life expectancy of all of Eastern Europe. Could it be the wine ? “Georgians live a ver y agricultural, simple life,” Corrigan says with a laugh. But, by law, Georgian winemakers can’t put any additives in their wine (which translates to low sulfides). While most of their wines are not certified organic, Georgians don’t use pesticides on their crops. Khatiashvili and his vineyard Shumi developed a specific brand for Corrigan to bring to the US market, formulating the wine for an American palate. “Johnson & Wales has
a wonderful wine program,” says Corrigan. “ We worked with them to decide what wines to import over.” Like other vineyards, Shumi uses cutting-edge technologies in their winemaking. But they also work in the traditional Georgian process of wild-fermenting the grapes in clay pots buried underground. This makes up Saperavi’s Qveveri line, named for the ancient vessel. The Kisi Qveveri uses the Kisi grape, a white wine grape, that is fermented along with the skins and stems. This process gives the wine a unique orange hue. The growing appetite for natural wine makes the Qveveri method poised for a breakout; and orange wine is beginning to pick up buzz in the wine world. Rhode Island is one of the few places in America to find this ancient vino. Working in a political hotspot like Eastern Europe comes with its challenges. When Russia, who once purchased 100 percent of Georgian wine, imposed sanctions on the country and refused to import it, it could have spelled the end of this ancient wine. Instead, the Georgians strengthened their laws to ensure the quality of their winemaking endured and worked tirelessly to promote it to foreign markets. “I have confidence in the wine and the mission,” says Corrigan, who notes that the wine retailers in Rhode Island have greeted her and the wine with enthusiasm. We’ll raise a glass to that. Hey Rhody MARCH 2022 |
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