Even wine columnists can be surprised. RICHARD CALVER was: “This feeling, the opposite of déjà vu, was triggered by my tasting the Saperavi varietal for the first time.”  

JAMAIS vu enveloped me at Anderson Winery in Rutherglen. 

Here I was doing something oft repeated, tasting wine, yet experiencing something for the first time, despite rationally knowing that I’d experienced it before. 

Here I was in a must-smelling wine cellar that doubles as the cellar door, which was familiar country, but a welling up of negative subjective recognition contrasted with a strange, positive objective recognition. 

This feeling, the opposite of déjà vu, was triggered by my tasting the Saperavi varietal for the first time. It is a red wine. The grape comes from Georgia, the former Soviet State, not the southern US State. 

It is in this country where wine making began at least 6000 years ago, according to Howard Anderson, owner and winemaker at Anderson Winery, a matter confirmed by a US website that told me: “If you asked most people where they think the birthplace of wine is, they’d probably get it wrong. The small former Soviet Republic of Georgia holds that distinction.”

The meaning of Saperavi in the Georgian language is “dye” and that suits the intensity of colour, similar to the colour of Durif. 

According to Christobelle Anderson, winemaker and daughter of the owner, most red grapes have the colour in the skin but with Saperavi there are red “veins” through the berry so the colour spills out straight away at the crush but there is also colour in the skin. 

The 2020 ($25) was on taste and it was, to say the least, a different tasting experience, unique. The wine was matured in French oak and there was a hint of vanilla but the dominant flavour was of baked beetroot with a herbal finish. 

I tried it again after trying some of Anderson’s other wines, taking a liking to the Petit Verdot 2019 with a velvet finish and a hint of spice. 

I came back to the Saperavi and, yep, ticked the box on a distinct and engaging flavour profile that opened up in the glass to add an almost sweet cherry profile. It was extraordinarily complex. 

Howard said that this year they were experimenting with maturing Saperavi in an amphora and that he had reached the conclusion that this method is definitely worth exploring further as it allows the natural flavours through and is more in line with the way the wine is grown in Georgia. 

I asked Howard how he came to plant Saperavi.

“Back in 1992 I started making contract wine for other vineyards as I was new to owning a winery,” he said.

“I had no direct customers and I was making contract sparkling for a winery in the King Valley and the owner of that vineyard had Saperavi growing and I tried it and I thought, wow, this tastes awesome. 

“He got the rootlings from another grower in the King Valley and at that time there was very little growing in Australia. 

“It was always in my mind to produce Saperavi and we planted half a hectare here in 2007. We think it’s so fantastic, it shouldn’t be blended with anything else.” 

I asked if it was a robust varietal.

“The grapevine in the vineyard is less vigorous than some other varietals,” he said.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that Saperavi is not as vigorous as shiraz or temperanillo. The vines originally were quite brambly, but as they’ve matured they have settled. 

“But the fact is that in Georgia they regard Saperavi as a premium variety and I still think its awesome,” he said. 

“Normality is much less captivating than the extraordinary.”
―Erin Forbes, “The Elementals“.