As you contemplate your best lamb chop recipe and uncork a bottle of Mukuzani, you’ll want to read what The Nittany Epicurean wrote in a review of SunWine Mukuzani:

“The wine showed a dark ruby color. Blackberry, raspberry preserves, cherry, currant, licorice and oak all arrived on the nose. Black cherry, raspberry, blackberry, currant, vanilla, licorice and oak followed on the palate where the dominant theme was ripe berry fruit. The wine was full-bodied and exhibited good length along with soft tannins. This wine would be the ideal pairing for grilled lamb chops.”

We agree that our Mukuzani, produced with 100 percent Saperavi grapes grown in the village of Mukuzani in Gurjaani, Kkheti, Georgia, is a dry red with complexity.

Mukuzani is considered by many to be the best of the Georgian red wines made with Saperavi grapes. And from the vineyards of Mukuzani, this wine spent a year aging in an oak barrel. It’s dark red hue and aromas of vanilla and rich berries are sure to intensify its already palatable complexity with extended bottle aging.

Food pairing with Mukuzani

This is a wine perfect for holiday dinners where the menu includes a hearty vegetable dish, meat (lamb chops!) or cheese. If you want a good Georgian recipe, Carla Capalbo’s book, “Tasting Georgia: A Food and Wine Journey in the Caucasus” is worth the purchase. Once you receive your book in the mail, you’ll want to recreate the Khinkali recipe on page 55.

What are Khinkali, you ask? These are Georgian dumplings typically filled with spiced meat… perhaps lamb… and its broth, and most people make them filled with cheese. If you fill them with meat, the way to eat them properly is to grab the stem and take a bite from the side, suck out the broth and then chew the rest… except for the steam, which can be tossed aside. Sounds like a delicious recipe to create for a chilly New Year’s Eve gathering!

NOTE: Featured image is courtesy of Nittany Epicurean.