Pheasant's Tears Tibaani Mtsvane 2023

Vin Chicago: 90 Points

(4/2025) Pheasant's Tears is the project of American John Wurdeman and Georgian Gela Patalishvili. Begun in 2007, this winery was one of the first Georgian wineries to see wide acclaim in the United States. The name comes from a Georgian folktale that tells that only a superlative wine could make a pheasant cry tears of joy. The Mtsvane Tibaani is a wine based on a Mtsvane grape from a small subregion of Kakheti called Tibaani, near the Caspian Sea. This whole-cluster white sees a light maceration of about three days and then rests in qvevri for one year before bottling. Think apple skin, Bartlett pear, and complete deliciousness!