Meaghan Frank, DipWSET | Vice-President of Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery
Meaghan tells us that she and Erika connected years ago with a common interest in the Saperavi grape variety. Erika then introduced her to Lasha. Together, they have done a number of consumer and trade events at Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery focusing on the Rkatsiteli and Saperavi grape varieties. “Through these events, we have been honoring Georgian culture and building a connection between Georgia and the Finger Lakes,” – says Meaghan. “It was an honor to host the first Saperavi Festival in what is the home base of Saperavi in America. Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery is also linked to Odessa, Ukraine, from where my great grandfather immigrated and had experience working with these grape varieties. Finding that common ground has been wonderful. Our customers and our team have been really intrigued by these cultural connections, the traditions, the stories, the wine, and the food.
The Finger Lakes region in New York is a perfect growing region for the grape Saperavi. It is a cool climate growing region, and Saperavi has proven to be cold-hardy. It can produce red wines that are deeply hued and full-bodied, which is not easy to do in our cool climate. Saperavi is such a unique grape variety, with thousands of years of history in Georgia and also a long tradition in Eastern Europe. Now that it’s planted in America, we are honoring that heritage while utilizing modern winemaking techniques.
Saperavi is not very widely planted in the United States, so it’s a point of differentiation for the Finger Lakes region. It is something special that can be found here, and it’s really interesting for people who are looking to stray a little outside of their comfort zone. Saperavi has such unique and wonderful attributes. It produces a food-friendly wine with bright acidity which pairs especially well with heartier dishes.
We’ve been working with and have had Saperavi planted for over 60 years, but, over the last decade, we have seen tremendous growth in interest in this grape variety. Up until several years ago, it was not a recognized grape variety in America by the TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau). The petition was finally approved so that we can actually label our Saperavi bottlings with the name “Saperavi”. The inability to varietally label our Saperavi wines was a big hindrance in the past and created a lot of confusion from the consumer’s standpoint. Now that we can put “Saperavi” on the bottle, it has opened up a huge opportunity for the growers in the Finger Lakes region and beyond. It’s an exciting time for the Saperavi grape. We are seeing plantings increase with the advantages from both the grower and the winery side. There is lots of interest in Saperavi from both a producer and consumer standpoint, which I think is just going to continue to increase the demand and production.
