This wine is a blend of 417 of the estimated 525 indigenous red and white varieties in Georgia, as the name "Poliphonia" (Polyphony) suggests.
It is a mixed planted field with 1-10 plants of each of the 417 varieties. They harvest in 3-4 sweeps, as they all ripen at different times, so you get white, golden greenish, blue, purple, grey pink grapes at various level of ripeness that finish co-fermenting together!
Matured in a qveri, this wine has bags of fresh dark fruit. The wine is incredibly moreish, a perfect step off into the unusual.
About the Winery:
All of the wines at Pheasant's Tears are fermented and aged in qvevri.
Pheasant's Tears qvevri vary in age but, some date back to the mid 19th Century. The winery built their cellar in the vineyard itself to minimize the damage to the grapes in transportation, allowing them to harvest and press before the hot hours of the sun. It is usually a question of hours before the harvested grapes are already pressed and in the cool qvevri.
In accordance with Georgian traditional winemaking methods, the ripest of stems are added to the grape skins, juice and pits, for both reds and whites produced by Pheasant's Tears. The maceration time depends on varietal and the size of the qvevri and varies between 3 weeks and 6 months.
Since all of Pheasant's Tears' wines are aged exclusively in qvevri, no flavors are imparted from oak barrels. What some might consider a lack of oak, the winery views as an opportunity to let the quality of the grapes and the resulting wine shine through.
