K'AVSHIRI White Assemblage 2023

9 Sept

I don’t have alcohol or price details for this Georgian white wine (grown in the Kakheti and Imereti regions) but it’s a blend of eleven different varieties: Mtsvane (20%); Rkatsiteli (15%); Rkatsiteli Kakhuri (15%); Krakhuna (15%); Tsitska (10%); Tsolikouri (8%); Khikhvi (7%); Aligoté (3%); Muscat (2%); Kisi (2%) and Mtsvivane (3%). It was raised in qvevri, stainless steel and seasoned oak and a minor portion spent time on skins. Basically it’s the landscape of Georgian white winemaking all combined into one.

It’s accessible in general but then it also has tannin, salt and lemongrass characters, and it also has a good, purposeful finish. It’s pretty impressive, and feels perfectly pitched. I love the squeaky, grippy finish, I like the lemon pith characters, I like the fruity aromatics and I like the way phenolics have been used to advantage. 91 points.

K'AVSHIRIGeorgia

Campbell Mattinson

This post was written by Campbell Mattinson. Mattinson is a former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion book, former editor of Halliday magazine, former editor of Australian Sommelier Magazine and founder of The Winefront business. He is the author of five books on wine – four of which were bestsellers (The Wine Hunter, the Big Red Wine Book 2008, the Big Red Wine Book 2009, and the Big Red Wine Book 2010).

Mattinson is also the founder of the Mattinson Photography business.

Campbell Mattinson has been an independent journalist, wine critic and photographer for forty years. He’s the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He’s a past winner of a Louis Roederer International Wine Media Award; is the author of the award-winning book The Wine Hunter; and is the author of the best-selling novel We Were Not Men. He’s also a winner of a St Kilda Film Festival Award (as writer-director) and is a former winner of the national Best Australian Sports Writing Award. In 2026 three of his photographs were short-listed for the World Food Photography Awards.

Campbell Mattinson, who is 100% independent, has tasted between 5000 and 10,000 wines each and every year for the past 25 years. He tastes blind, in comparative brackets, as often as is practicable.

Campbell Mattinson is a journalist, a photographer, a filmmaker and a wine critic. In all of these mediums his prime motive is to tell people's stories.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com

K'AVSHIRI White Assemblage 2023

Tolpuddle Pinot Noir 2024

Rameau d’Or Rosé Côtes de Provence 2024