
2024
Region
Ukraine › Mykolaiv Oblast
Type
white · still
Grapes
Rkatsiteli
Alcohol
12%
Volume
750 mL
Decent. Yellow fruits, dried apricot, almond, a touch of clay (call it earthy), dried culinary herbs. Acidity sags a bit, edges a touch sweet - which paradoxically is what makes it so friendly and easy to read. Soft, easygoing tannin. Tastily made if not complex. But the calendula on the finish - that one I like.
Beykush's "Amphora" line launched in 2020, when the new winery in Chornomorka was equipped with a small fleet of Spanish and Italian terracotta vessels. The series is dedicated to mono- and bi-varietal experiments on skins - what the estate calls its помаранчева технологія, the orange method - and to what each clay vessel does to the same grape.
This 2024 Rkatsiteli is macerated and fermented on the skins in 400-litre Spanish tinajas, handmade by Cantereria Josep Jornet in Tarragona, then aged on fine lees in the same vessels for six months. The choice of grape is a fitting one for the format: Rkatsiteli is the Georgian variety that historically defined the qvevri tradition, rendered here through Catalonia's tinaja answer to the same idea. Bottled at 12%, dry, single varietal.
A 3,000-bottle release. The label is drawn after Joan Miró illustrations and traces the silhouette of a tinaja.