Wine & Spirits - Winter 2017 - 69

Gaia

With vineyards in both the Nahe and Rheinhessen, the Salm-Salms make
some of the most charming yet structured rieslings in Germany.

Santorini and Nemea compete for the honor of best wine regions in southern
Greece; Gaia's wines from each region demonstrate why.

Aristocratic Bearings: Prinz Salm is said to be the oldest wine estate
in Germany to be continually run by a single family: 32 generations
of Salms from 1200 to today. Its base is the Prinz Salm winery in the
Nahe, housed in a castle in Wallhausen built in 1565; they moved
there from the family's castle at Dalberg, now a ruin at the top of
a nearby hill. The winery began to take on its current shape under
Michael Prinz zu Salm-Salm, who expanded the estate from seven to
46 acres and converted to organic farming in 1988.

Santorini First: It's hard to believe, given the popularity of Santorini's
racy, mineral whites, but back in the 1980s, the island's vineyards
were rapidly disappearing for lack of interest. Yiannis Paraskevopoulos witnessed this while working for the Boutaris, who launched
a winery on the island in 1989. By 1994, Paraskevopoulos and viticulturist Leon Karatsalos started making their own wines under the
name Gaia, the earth goddess, eventually setting up shop in an old
tomato-paste factory. Thalassitis set the stage for modern-day Santorini whites: fermented in stainless steel, stone dry and thrillingly
acidic. The Wild Ferment Assyrtiko, introduced in 2008, represents
Santorini 2.0: Selected from old vines growing in Pyrgos, the island's
highest (and therefore coolest) point, and fermented partially in barrel, with no added yeasts, it's Santorini in 3-D, notes of island herbs,
lemon leaves, salt water
and hot rocks coursing
through its plush, deep
texture.

32 Generations: Michael's son Felix has run the estate since 2007,
continuing to focus on sustainability. The family's own forests provide all the wood needed to provide heat, and their solar panels
produce more energy than the the winery consumes. And, in the
vineyards, his move toward higher planting densities with more
cover crops paid off in the challenging 2014 vintage. The Grosses
Gewächs ("great growth") from Wallhausen Johannisberg grows at
a hillside of red slate, volcanic stones, gravelly loam and sandstone
in a side valley of the Nahe. It's a warm site that battled the rain and
cool temperatures of August to deliver a vivacious riesling, its power
expressed in the brightness of its fruit and its racy acidity. The 2015s,
from a warmer, drier year, are generous and charming yet, at the
same time, structured; the Berg Roxheim Spätlese, from
a parcel of red slate and sandstone, holds a considerable amount of residual sugar (63.7 grams per
liter), yet feels less sweet than it does just plain
gulpable, the wine's juicy peach flavors lasting
with pristine clarity.
Rheinhessen: In 2006, Prinz Salm took over
the Villa Sachsen, an estate built in 1843 at
the foot of the Rochusberg hill in Rheinhessen. Although the terrain is new to the
Felix Prinz zu
family, they've already begun putting out
Salm-Salm
an array of stunning wines from their holdings, 19 acres scattered among vineyards such
as the Scharlachberg Bingen. In 2015 that vineyard, with its weathered red slate soils, grew an Auslese riesling so vivid in fragrance it barely needs tasting
to confirm its flavors. It smells like the best wildflower
honey you can imagine, floral, earthy, waxy and complex,
and feels like whipped honey in texture. And yet, like
Prinz Salm's top Nahe wines, it carries the weight of its
nobility and ripeness with ease. -T.Q.T.

Nemea Next: Paraskevopoulos began teaching
oenology in Athens, from
where he could comLeon Karatsalos & Yiannis
mute to Nemea, a redParaskevopoulos
wine region just under
two hours. Building a
winery in the high hills of Koutsí, he began testing the possibilities
for the local agiorgitiko. He now makes everything from a vibrant,
garnet-hued rosé (14-17H) to a fortified sweet red (Anatolikos). The
most impressive take on the region we tasted this year, however, was
the 2015 "Agiorgitiko by Gaia." Grown in Koutsí, the grapes ripened
before the September rains that challenged growers at lower altitudes. After a year in oak, only 10 percent new, the wine captures the
scent of the hillsides in its complex array of fruit, spice, herb and forest aromas, with stony minerality underpinning the cherry flavors.
Noble Retsina: Well before the current vogue for Retsina, Paraskevopoulos introduced Nobilis. By using bright, fragrant wine (roditis
instead of the more typical savatiano, from a vineyard at
3,280 feet in altitude) and only a small amount of very
fresh resin sourced from a particular forest of Aleppo
pine, his Retsina feels like a Mediterranean breeze, cool
and fragrant, with the power to rejuvenate the appetite no
matter how hard the sun shines. -T.Q.T.

DETAILS & TOP WINES

Founded: 1200 * Owner/winemaker/viticulturist: Felix
Prinz zu Salm-Salm * Acres owned: 46 * Annual production:
8,000 cases * Estate grown: 95% * Importer: Valckenberg
Int'l, Tulsa, OK * Website: prinzsalm.de

Founded: 1994 * Winemaker: Yiannis Paraskevopoulos
Viticulturist: Leon Karatsalos * Owners: Yiannis
Paraskevopoulos, Leon Karatsalos & Christina Legaki * Acres
owned: 28 * Annual production: 30,000 cases * Estate
grown: 10% * Importer: Athenee Importers & Distributors,
Hempstead, NY * Website: gaia-wines.gr

96 2015 Rheinhessen Scharlachberg Bingen Auslese $67
94 2014 Nahe Johannisberg Grosses Gewächs $77
92 2015 Nahe Berg Roxheim Spätlese $49
(all riesling, 12/16)

G ERMANY N AHE /R HEINHESSEN

94 2016 Santorini Wild Ferment Assyrtiko $39 (8/17)
94 2015 Nemea Agiorgitiko by Gaia $37 (8/17)
90 Retsina Nobilis $17 (8/17)

G REECE S ANTORINI
WINE & SPIRITS

BUYING GUIDE 2018

TOP 100 WINERIES 2017

Prinz Salm

http://www.prinzsalm.de http://www.gaia-wines.gr

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