When it comes to skin-contact Georgian white wines (often referred to as orange wine outside of the country), we’ll be the first to admit that some can be quite intense.
For those looking to try this style of wine for the first time, the notes of prolonged skin contact can be a bit surprising as it is unlike most notes you find in traditional white wine. For some, this can be overwhelming.
Baia’s Wine Tsolikouri is an excellent introduction to skin-contact Georgian wine because this element of winemaking was limited- only 30% of the wine touched skins and with nominal time in qvevri, too. Some of the best flavors of skin-contact without an overwhelming intensity? Sign us up!
Baia’s Wine Tsolikouri is a Lovely Skin Contact White
This Georgian Tsolikouri was pale gold with medium aromas of yellow apple, lemon, almond, grapefruit, pineapple, vanilla, caramel, honey, cream, and a slight menthol note.
On the palate, it was dry with medium(+) acidity, body, and flavor intensity, medium alcohol, and a long finish. We had notes of lemon, lime, wet stone, yellow apple, almond, pear, orange rind, grapefruit pith, apricot, saline, honey, and a slightly creamy mouthfeel.
The aroma of this wine was interesting because it had less skin contact notes than the palate and more of a creamy, vanilla caramel aroma. The palate, conversely, had all of the things we love about a skin-contact wine- namely pithy/rind notes with salinity.
Tsolikouri Food Pairing – Moroccan Tomato and Chickpea Stew
We paired the Tsolikouri with a Moroccan dish made with couscous, chickpeas, tomato, and saffron as we thought the intensely aromatic dish would hold up well with a skin contact grape. As expected, we had stronger notes of orange marmalade, honey, pineapple, and a light floral characteristic that we did not pick up on previously.
This was an excellent pairing, and makes us eager to try more orange/skin-contact white wines with intensely aromatic foods.
Score: 4 / 5
We’d buy another bottle of this one.
Overall, there is a lot to love about Baia’s Wine Tsloikouri. From the unique aromas to the present, albeit restrained, skin contact character on the palate, this wine came together for an all around nice drinker. If you are looking to try more white wines with skin contact but are worried about a bottle being a bit too intense, this one is a great compromise to start.
Baia’s Wine is located at 1000, Meore Obcha, Bagdati in Georgia. We purchased this wine locally and enjoyed it in 2023.
