We’re calling it, this is the grape you need to know about (Picture: Getty Images)
If loving a new grape is wrong, I don’t want to be right. There, I said it.
It’s not necessarily wrong per se, but in my mind it’s like I’m cheating on Cabernet and Malbec with a mysterious new vine, when we hadn’t actually clarified that we were in an open throuple.
In case you’re gagging to find out the name of the new grape, it’s Saperavi.
Go on say it with me: sap-air-arvy.
It’s the next big thing in red wine, you literally heard it here first and we don’t need a TikTok trend to prove it this time.
Saperavi hails from Georgia, the country between Eastern Europe and West Asia, and packs a full bodied, powerful punch not unlike Cabernet Sauvignon with the warming spice and texture of a hearty Argentinian Malbec.
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M&S Found Saperavi, £9, semi-guzzled by our Drinks Editor
Gen Z drinkers may even say it’s got ‘mad riz’, meaning that it’s really charismatic. People would cringe if I said that though, me included.
Ick aside, even the grape is unique, with red flesh as opposed to the greeny-yellow colour of regular grape innards. No wonder Saperavi translates as ‘paint’ or ‘dye’, as this grape delivers some intensely purply-coloured wine.
As a sidenote those rare, red-fleshed berries are called ‘teinturier’ grapes. Only a handful of them exist and they’re pretty obscure, which makes them special in my book.
Metro’s Rob Buckhaven loves identifying a new grape for us (Picture: Natasha Pszenicki)
Speaking of special, I predicted the rise of Saperavi in my 2024 drinking trends piece, so we’re getting in there early before it properly catches the popularity wave.
So early, in fact, that we’re not exactly swimming in the stuff over here at the moment, but I’ve done some light digging and found one for under a tenner.
Trust M&S to be on the pulse with their Found Saperavi, £9, all intensely spiced plums, dried marjoram and the silkiest blackberry flavours to shake off the shackles of winter. I mean, it’s bang on for colder evenings and could even be repurposed as a stand-in for expensive central heating. Who knew?
I can also share some potentially exciting intel, that Aldi might be working on their own version. That’s just between us and might never happen but watch this space. I’ll be the first to tell you if it does, and if so, you know it’s going to be well under a tenner.
For more spenny options, Waitrose does one called Orovela for £17.49 and Majestic has Tbilvino Saperavi at £13.99 (£9.33 mix 6). You could pour both of them comfortably alongside a shepherd’s pie, sausage casserole or braised short ribs and neither bottle has met a slow cooked pork belly it didn’t like.
For those poor souls doing Dry January, I see you, I support you and I suggest you buy some Saperavi to crack open on February 1. There’s no better bottle to welcome you back.
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