Saperican | noun |
Definition: A person who follows SAPERICA, a non-profit organization, and supports and shares its mission to promote Saperavi in the USA. #saperican #sapericanation.
The first Saperavi Festival was held this year in the Finger Lakes region of New York. The mission of the festival is to promote Saperavi and other Georgian grape varieties along with Georgian gastronomy and culture in the Finger Lakes region of New York and throughout the United States. The festival was organized by Saperica, Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery and Chama Mama restaurants. It featured Lado Uzunashvili as the keynote speaker and Darra Goldstein as a speaker about Georgian gastronomy. Homeland of Wine magazine interviewed the festival organizers, speakers and special guests about their experiences with Saperavi, Georgian wine and Georgian gastronomy in the United States.
Saperavi has been grown in the Fingers Lakes region for 60 years, and is already considered a traditional variety. According to Lasha Tsatava, it has a solid chance of becoming a premier red grape variety of the region. Its popularity is quickly growing and spreading in the northeastern part of the country, and it starting to be planted in other parts of the United States. Such is the mission of “Saperica” and the annual Saperavi Festival. Lasha and Erika Frey founded the non-profit corporation Saperica, and held the 1st Saperavi Festival, together with like-minded people. Lasha and Erika also plan to organize and facilitate educational seminars and exchange programs between the Finger Lakes region and Georgia, for wine and culinary professionals and enthusiasts.
Lasha Tsatava, DipWSET | Co-founder of Saperica
Lasha is originally from Georgia, namely Abkhazia. He spent most of his life (since 1998) in the U.S., but he has always had a strong fascination with Georgian wine, gastronomy, and culture. Last year, Lasha received the honorary status of Georgian Gastronomy Ambassador, and a WSET Diploma (first Georgian to earn this diploma). He completed the Italian Wine Maestro program and became a French Wine Scholar. Lasha has been invited as a speaker at Ghvino Forum, Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery, and Cornell University. He has been serving as one of the Directors of the Boston Sommelier Society since 2019 and is involved in promoting the wines of Georgia around Boston and beyond.
In 2022, Lasha co-founded a non-profit corporation, Saperica.
“The first annual Saperavi Festival was a success,” says Lasha. “Now it is time for the second phase – we plan to feature information about all companies that participated in the festival on our website, and create promotional videos for the participating vendors (without any additional fees), where each of them will have a chance to speak about their work and the importance of the festival. All of the proceeds from the festival were directed towards the promotion of the Saperavi variety in Finger Lakes, Saperica, and the festival participants.”
Saperica and Saperavi Festival Team
“I’d call it a union of like-minded people. It all started last year in July when I first visited Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery, and its fourth-generation manager, Meaghan Frank, in the Finger Lakes region. I was enchanted by the view of the vineyards at sunrise, especially over the Rkatsiteli vineyard. This winery, founded by Dr. Konstantin Frank, is forever engraved in the history of the Finger Lakes. It is solely due to Dr. Frank that Vitis Vinifera thrives in the Finger Lakes region and the northeast of the United States. Saperavi and Rkatsiteli have their place in the history of this winery. These two Georgian varieties have been growing in the region for over 60 years. Unfortunately, not many Americans know about it, and our goal is to inform not only them but Georgians as well.
According to the owners of one of the local vine nurseries, Saperavi can maintain stable productivity, even in such a cool climate (7-8 harvests out of 10). Moreover, the amount of tannins and aromatics is in no way inferior to some of the other, more popular red varieties of the region. This is an advantage that can help Saperavi become the leading red variety in the region. This position is currently held by Cabernet Franc despite its late maturity and averaging only 4 quality harvests out of 10 years. This is where Saperavi comes in. We must support this Georgian variety, for it to become more popular in the region, in the state of New York, and the whole of America. There is a real chance for it in Finger Lakes!”
Before founding Saperica and the Saperavi Festival, we held several small-scale events in the Finger Lakes region that helped us establish a network that eventually became the organizational team of the Festival. It all happened very naturally, with Meaghan offering her support, as well as Tamara and the whole team of “Chama Mama”, Darra Goldstein, and Mr. Lado Uzunashvili, who was kind enough to join right away. We are very lucky to have these great people by our side.
“Georgia is a country with an ancient, very unique culture and our goal is to inform Americans about it in the most interesting way possible. We want to start a wave of discussion with local winemakers and wineries, where they engage with us, ask questions, and express their interests or concerns. Saperica gave a voice to Saperavi! We want the guests of the Festival to buy and speak more about Saperavi. Education is an important component of Saperica. We have educational materials available on Saperica’s YouTube channel, namely the series of seminars with Mr. Lado Uzunashvili. We will soon be adding gastronomy seminars with Ms. Dalila Tsatava. Ms. Dalila’s seminars will help us raise awareness of Georgian gastronomy and educate students about our culinary culture and tradition,” says Lasha.
Both Lasha and Erika are speakers at Cornell University which has programs in Food and Beverage Management. They have both been invited to Cornell University this November to speak about Georgian wine and gastronomy. Tamara Chubinidze and her Chef from “Chama Mama” are scheduled to lead the culinary part of the seminar, where the students will have the opportunity to prepare a selected Georgian dishes together with the Chef.
Saperavi Wine Trail
“This is a separate segment of our joint program that will unite all Saperavi producers in Finger Lakes in a single route. We want to unite them and give everyone a chance to visit all the wineries and try wine made with Georgian varieties by traveling one route. We are planning to create a virtual infrastructure for all wineries, and make a promotional video for each one of them.”
FINGER LAKES SAPERAVI PRODUCERS
Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery* – Hammondsport,
NY – Keuka Lake
Azure Hill Winery – Hammondsport, NY – Keuka Lake
Keuka Lake Vineyards – Hammondsport, NY – Keuka Lake
Weis Vineyards – Hammondsport, NY – Keuka Lake
McGregor Vineyard* – Dundee, NY – Keuka Lake
Keuka Spring Vineyards – Penn Yan, NY – Keuka Lake
Stever Hill Vineyards** – Branchport, NY – Keuka Lake
Hickory Hollow Wine Cellars – Dundee, NY – Seneca Lake
Damiani Wine Cellars – Burdett, NY – Seneca Lake
Shalestone Vineyards – Lodi, NY – Seneca Lake
Idol Ridge Winery – Lodi, NY – Seneca Lake
Standing Stone Vineyards – Hector, NY – Seneca Lake
Scout Vineyards – Penn Yann, NY – Seneca Lake
Knapp Winery – Romulus, NY – Cayuga Lake
Airy Acres Vineyard** – Interlaken, NY – Cayuga Lake
Bet The Farm Winery** – Trumansburg, NY – Cayuga Lake
Inspire Moore Winery – Naples, NY – Canandaigua Lake
*Also produce Rkatsiteli
** Recently planted Saperavi & Rkatsiteli
It would also be great if Saperavi Festival attendees spoke about Saperavi produced in Georgia, its difference compared to the ones produced in the U.S., and their similarities. It would spark a lot of interest and stimulate engagement.
This is exactly what we want to do. We want to make Saperavi attractive in every aspect. The guests of the Saperavi Festival were very interested in Saperavi made by Georgian winemakers. We have to work hard with the companies that participated in the Festival, to make Georgian Saperavi available for sale in retail channels in the region. I am sure that this will spark interest among the restaurants. Imagine how fascinating it would be to visit the Finger Lakes region and discover both Georgian and American Saperavi, paired with a dish, made using local produce. Or even sit in a wine bar in New York and taste Georgian, American, and Australian Saperavi.
