LOCATION: ZESTAFONI, IMERETI, GEORGIA / WINEMAKER: AMIRAN VEPKHVADZE / GRAPE(S): OTSKHANURI SAPERE / SOILS: BROWN FOREST SOIL, CARBONIC SUBSTRAIGHT / VINIFICATION: 4 WEEKS SKIN MACERATION 18 MONTHS IN CHURI / BOTTLED END OF FERMENTATION / 1,200 BOTTLES / "HEART OF THE MARANI" Deep purple in color, perfumed, floral, animal and earthy. Brightly flavored, juicy and dark, exotic, complex, textured, high acid and dry. This is the signature wine of Amiran Vepkhvadze, even in relation to other examples of this intense variiety Amiran's stands out. In it's youth it can be especially coarse, this subsides in time and it seems the older the bottle the better. He has begun to reduce the length of maceration and reduce pressing in search of more finesse and there is truth to the approach but in riper years the longer maceration results in something more concentrated and if corectly managed, potentially more profound. 2018 was one these higher potential vintages.