A wine produced by the Tsinandali Estate has progressed to the next round of Australian show ‘Battle of the Wines’, after defeating its French rival in a blind taste test. The 2017 Natella won by 8 votes to 4 against the 1er Cru Fourchaume by the Domaine Garnier & Fils.
The Natella is a classical dry white wine and the blend designed exclusively by the Tsinandali Estate in 2017 from an unusual blend of five Georgian varietals: Mtsvane, Kisi, Khikhvi, Tsolikouri and Tetra. The name Natella was chosen based on the Georgian word for “bright”, but was also inspired by the poem ‘Natella from Tsinandali’ by the famous writer Galaktion Tabidze.
The success of this wine has demonstrated the continued importance of the oldest wine-making culture in the world, and shows just how well our wine has established itself as a premier product on the international wine market. The Tsinandali Estate has a long relationship with wine, cultivated in particular by its greatest patron, the Romantic poet and soldier Alexander Chavchavadze, who introduced European wine-making technology to Georgia. The estate and its vineyard have been carefully restored in recent years by the Silk Road Group.
Battle of the Wines itself takes its name and inspiration from the famous 1224 poem La Bataille des Vin, which tells the story of an international wine competition held by the French King Philip Augustus. The winner was a surprising outsider, a Cypriot wine, a feat that we hope to repeat almost 800 years later. The Natella’s latest success comes in the “Great Whites” category, one of 16 categories that will be decided as the competition works towards a winner from over 250 wines from all over the globe.