Dr. Konstantin Frank Rkatsiteli - 6.0

This wine review is for the 2006 Dr. Konstantin Frank Rkatsiteli. Yes, that is the name of the wine. To prove it, I have a picture.

You might be asking "what the heck is Rkatsiteli?" Well, its a type of white grape primarily grown in Georgia (the country). It is one of the oldest known cultivated grapes (at least 3000BC). I know this not only because of Wikipedia, but also because the guy serving me this at a tasting told me so. Yes, thats right, this is not a wine of the month bottle, this is one I purchased at the winery. Dr. Konstantin Frank was one of the first people to be serious about growing grapes and making wine in the Finger Lakes. He even gets his own Wiki page! His winery on Seneca lake is still going strong and some people say it is the "best" in the Finger lakes. Anyway, you know I'm probably going to give this wine a good review if I bought it, but lets get on with it, shall we?

It has a fruity odor plus a rather earthy odor, not unlike the smell from when I opened the box of my homegrown mushroom kit (earlier this year). It is a bit on the sour side, but has a good amount of sweetness to balance that. Rather than just having a sour/bitter sweet/dry flavor, this has a good amount of actual grape flavor. I get some orange and mango flavors. A slight mustiness as well. I would say its not unlike a Riesling or Gewurtztraminer (which I am both partial to). Not a lot to complain about except that it might be a bit more sour than it needs to be.

Jaime says she gets some fruitiness and some definite grape flavor. It is sour, but not overly so. But there is some flavor in it that she really doesn't like, and can't quite pin down. She says that maybe she can taste the alcohol in it, and that might be what she doesn't like. [I think she's just crazy, thats all]

Peter gives this wine an 8 out of 10. I would buy this (obviously) as long as its not crazy expensive. When I bought it, it was $17, which is on the high side of what I would normally want to pay for a bottle of wine.

Jaime gives this wine a 4 out of 10.