Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 70
YEAR'S BEST GREEK WINES
bringing you back for another sip. § Athenee
Importers & Distributors, Hempstead, NY
222358
a creamy sauce of olive oil and lemon. § Cava
Spiliadis, Astoria, NY
223251
$45
90 | Hatzidakis
$45
90 | Spyros Hatziyiannis
$19
94 | Venetsanos
2015 Santorini Nykteri ^ Ioanna Vamvakouri
has made wine on Santorini since 2000, first
at Santo Wines, then Boutari. She started
her own project in 2014, renovating the
island's oldest commercial winery, Venetsanos, in time for the 2015 harvest. Working
with assyrtiko from the Venetsanos family's
vineyards, she moved it, mid-fermentation,
into French oak barriques, where she left it
to rest for four months. That was just enough
time for the wine to pick up a touch of toasty,
wheaty character without hiding the chalky
savor. The sense of stone is what drives this
wine, even as it fills the mouth with umami
richness. It's quiet and restrained, an elegant
Santorini that you could pour in place of a
Chablis. § Cava Spiliadis, Astoria, NY
222490
93 | Venetsanos
$33
2015 Santorini ^ Like Vamvakouri's 2015
Nykteri (reviewed above), this is as restrained
as the pale hue predicts, with a leesy richness that builds power and volume into the
stony, saline flavors. The acidity is insistent
and energizing, making this a mouthwatering Santorini to pour with scallops. § Cava
Spiliadis, Astoria, NY
223344
92 | Gavalas
$18
92 | Domaine Sigalas
$20
2016 Santorini Assyrtiko (Best Buy) ^
George Gavalas is the fourth generation of
his family to run this winery in Megalochori.
He vinifies this assyrtiko entirely in stainless
steel, producing an austere style, focused on
lemon, salt and stone, almost searing in its
intensity. § Distinctive Imports, Antioch, IL
222958
2016 Santorini Assyrtiko-Athiri (Best
Buy) ^ Athiri's floral, fruity scents play off
of assyrtiko's salty mineral character in an
addictive way, adding a host of herb and citrus notes that gentle the wine's stony base.
It's firm and lasting, with an oceanic scent
that brings to mind a pairing with grilled
octopus. § Diamond Importers, Chicago, IL
223302
91 | Tselepos
$26
2016 Santorini Canava Chrissou Assyrtiko ^
Yiannis Tselepos, who's run a winery in Mantinia in the Peloponnese since 1989, started
working with the Chrissou family on Santorini in 2014. This vintage, his third, is ripe
and spicy, a stylish wine with a core of sweet
lemon flavors that seems to sparkle with minerality. Firm and showy, it's a white wine for
red meat, like roast lamb with avgolemeno,
70
WINE & SPIRITS
AUGUST 2017
2015 Santorini Cuvée No. 15 Assyrtiko ^
Haridimos Hatzidakis selects this wine from
certified organic vineyards. He leaves the
juice on the skins for 12 hours, allows it to
spontaneously ferment in stainless-steel
tanks, then lets it rest on the lees for eight
months. It's as rich as its golden color would
predict and tastes of salted caramels, nutty
and leesy, with a soft, broad texture that
wraps the acidity completely. The minerality
is there in its saline savor, but should become
more prominent with another few years of
age. § Dionysi Grevenitis Selections/Frederick
Wildman and Sons, NY
223321
2016 Santorini Assyrtiko ^ Lean and salty,
this assyrtiko has a cool, fresh feel, with
herbal notes and fresh cedar scents skating
across its mineral base. It feels young and
vibrant, a refreshing, unpretentious take on
Santorini. § Fantis Imports, Carlstadt, NJ
223456
90 | Santo Wines
$39
2014 Santorini Grande Reserve Assyrtiko ^
This is a rich, opulent Santorini, the product of fruit off 100-year-old vines that's been
fermented and aged in barrels. It's golden in
tone, with notes of toast and caramel that
burnish the baked apple fruit; the alcohol,
nearing 15 percent, adds a little warming
spice. It would be too much were it not for
the wine's insistent minerality, a saltiness
that keeps it vivid and savory. Age it for
another four or five years, or pour now with
Comté. § Diamond Importers, Chicago, IL
M A IN L AND WHITES
CENTRAL GREECE
222661
90 | Mylonas
$16
2015 Attica Savatiano (Best Buy) ^ Stamatis Mylonas makes this from old-vine, unirrigated savatiano grown in Laureotiki, far
down the peninsula southeast of Athens.
Maybe it's the wild sage, thyme, chamomile
and other scrub that grows in these dry hills
that gives this wine such a vivid herbal edge,
or maybe it's the portion of the wine that
fermented with ambient yeasts. Either way,
this isn't your usual savory, bland savatiano:
it tastes like sunshine on hot rocks, with so
many herbal components it could sub in for
vermouth. Chill for mezes. § Diamond Importers, Chicago, IL
NORTHERN GREECE
223393
95 | Ktima Gerovassiliou
$36
90 | Alpha Estate
$19
90 | Argatia
$20
90 | Ktima Gerovassiliou
$20
2016 Epanomi Viognier ^ Evangelos Gerovassiliou has grown viognier on the cool,
sunny slopes of Epanomi since 1993. His
2016, from a warm, early vintage, is exceptional, with all the satiny texture, floral scents
and succulent stone-fruit flavors the variety
is known for, and an energy that sends the
wine soaring. Taste it and you might be able
to smell the sage, thyme and lavender growing on the hillsides surrounding these vines;
you might also catch the glint of the sun off
the water in the bay below. Fermented in barrel and aged on its lees, the wine is full bodied
yet lithe. Show off its elegant line with something simple, like grilled red snapper. § Cava
Spiliadis, Astoria, NY
222802
2016 Florina Sauvignon Blanc (Best Buy) ^
Angelos Iatridis worked with the late Bordelais sauvignon-blanc master Denis Dubourdieu, whose influence shows in this satiny,
ripe sauvignon with more lees character than
green notes. It's a sleek, creamy white offering stone fruit and citrus richness checked by
notes of sage and stone. § Diamond Importers,
Chicago, IL
223271
2015 Macedonia ^ Viticulturist Haroula Spinthiropoulou makes this wine from her own
vineyards in Naoussa, blending the floral
malagousia with 35 percent assyrtiko and 5
percent athiri. The result is a satin-textured
wine with lift and energy, assyrtiko's saline,
stony coolness and lemon-pith flavors balancing malagousia's apricot richness. Athiri
seems to add beguiling herbal notes, like the
floral, resinous scent of thyme in full bloom. §
Verity Wine Partners, NY
223297
2016 Epanomi ^ Assyrtiko provides a balance
to malagousia's lush textures and peachy
fruit, adding tangy lemon, herb and saline
notes. It feels firm and restrained, an elegant white for vegetable tians or roasted fish
dishes. § Cava Spiliadis, Astoria, NY
PELOPONNESE
222883
90 | Mercouri Estate
$18
2016 Ilia Foloi ^ Ten percent viognier adds
violet scents and satin texture to this blend
with roditis. It's clean and fresh, with a taut
minerality that keeps it lean and lithe. § Athenee Importers & Distributors, Hempstead, NY
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - August 2017
Contents
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - Cover1
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - Cover2
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 1
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 2
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 3
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 4
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - Contents
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 6
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 7
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 8
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - 9
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Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - Cover3
Wine & Spirits - August 2017 - Cover4
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