Alexandrouli

Alexandrouli is a red grape of Racha, a mountain province in north western Georgia, and it exists in the wider world only as half of one famous wine. Khvanchkara is a naturally semi sweet red made from Alexandrouli and Mujuretuli, and it is probably the best known Georgian wine outside the country.

The sweetness is not added. The vineyards sit high in cold mountain valleys, and the traditional method relies on the temperature falling far enough in late autumn to stop the fermentation while sugar is still in the wine. The yeast goes dormant, the wine is racked cold, and it stabilises naturally at around four to five percent residual sugar. That technique is old and it is local to the region.

The wine that results is medium bodied, deep in colour, with raspberry and dark cherry fruit against the sweetness and enough acidity to keep it from cloying. Alexandrouli contributes the finesse and the aroma, and Mujuretuli the colour and body. Plantings are very small, the yields are low, and the name is heavily counterfeited.