Nine Oaks Estate Khikhvi and Little Richard's Here's Little Richard
Chuck Berry, Elvis, The Beatles, David Bowie, Prince, Debbie Harry, Tina Turner and a whole lot more have one man to thank for blazing their rock & roll trail: the legendary Little Richard. Little Richard, who recently left this earth at the age of 87, was a true pioneer in every sense of the word. He recorded the first rock music on his seminal debut album, “Here’s Little Richard”, released in 1957.
Just as Little Richard conceived rock & roll as we know it, Georgia, one of the oldest winemaking regions in the world, was the first to make orange wines way before wine hipsters coopted them—as in 8,000 years ago.
Orange wines are white wines with red wine tendencies. They’re fermented and aged with their grape skins, best with a slight chill, and have tannins, texture and structure—just like red wines. The it girl of the wine world in the last five years or so is orange wine. This trendy style of white wine has swept the globe, typically aged for several days to weeks or even months with the grape skins.
Nine Oaks winemaker Mamuka Khurtsidze
Nine Oaks Estate in Kakheti, Georgia ages their orange wine made from the indigenous khikhvi grape for four weeks on the skins, and a year total in stainless steel tanks. Nine Oaks was founded by winemaker and native Georgian Mamuka Khurtsidze and Anna Addison, a wine brand art director and designer. Their 2018 khikhvi is a confounding white wine like you’ve never had before.
The color is an orangey amber, like looking at a sunset on the lake from a dock. The nose is super aromatic and intoxicating with orange blossom, pickled jalapeno, almond, spearmint, forest brush and a slight resin note. The palate is dry with prominent acidity, has a full body with sturdy tannins, and more citrus peel and herbaceous notes coming through. It most certainly ain’t your mama’s white wine.
Photo by Dena Flows via Flickr
And at the time, Little Richard was not your mama’s music, or anyone’s music for that matter, because no one had heard anything quite like it. Like Nine Oaks Estate, Little Richard was also from Georgia—Macon, Georgia, that is. It was there in the South that he began his musical career, initially singing gospel music and some R&B, much to his religious family’s dismay.
Eventually, Little Richard made his way to New Orleans to work with legendary producer Cosimo Matassa, then Specialty Records released his debut album “Here’s Little Richard” which would change popular music forever and influence musical artists for generations to come. Not only was he the father of rock & roll, but he infused elements of pop, soul and funk before they were established genres.
In this way, Georgia wine country and Little Richard have so much in common. They’re both way ahead of their time, ultimate crossover artists and boundary breakers.
“Here’s Little Richard” starts out with Little Richard wailing an iconic line of gibberish on one of his most famous songs, “Tutti Frutti”: Wop bop a loo bop a lop bom bom! This beast of an album opener makes a startling entrance and brings the party with plenty of screeching “oww!”s and “woo!”s, pounding piano and raunchy sax. It’s meant for fun and dancing.
“True Fine Mama” is commanding, powerful, exuberant and expressive, like the Nine Oaks khikhvi white wine made in a bold, confident, almost audacious style.
“Can’t Believe You Want to Leave” takes a bluesy turn and puts Little Richard’s insanely soulful, passionate voice in the spotlight.
With other bangers like “Ready Teddy”, “Long Tall Sally” and “Rip It Up”, this record is relentless. It’s edgy, full of life, fresh and daring. It’s party music for cool people. It matches the style, flavors and structure of this wine. Both “Here’s Little Richard” and Nine Oaks khikhvi are for people who are down—down for something extra, down for something different, and mostly, down for having fun.
