Wine & Spirits - Winter 2017 - 70

Ktima Gerovassiliou

Kir-Yianni

Evangelos Gerovassiliou has made a reputation out of resurrecting near-forgotten varieties and showcasing them in elegant, polished wines-and for naturalizing some imported grapes.

Yiannis Boutari and his sons champion northern Greece's vineyards through
an array of boundary-bending xinomavro wines.

TOP 100 WINERIES 2017

Great Beginnings: Evangelos Gerovassiliou was among the first wave
of Greek winemakers to study abroad, heading to Bordeaux in the
1970s. The timing was good, as his professor, the celebrated French
scientist Emile Peynaud, was consulting at Porto Carras, an ambitious winery on the Halkidiki peninsula in northern Greece. That's
just one peninsula over from Epanomi, where Gerovassiliou's family
grew grapes, so when Peynaud tapped him to be assistant oenologist,
he went. He worked there for 22 years, while, at home, he was busy
renovating his family's vineyards and setting out to make his own
wine. He left Carras in 1999, when he'd completed a state-of-the-art
winery on top of a hill in Epanomi. It's surrounded by 182 acres of
impeccably manicured vines, all within view of the sea.
Going Native: While Gerovassiliou focused largely on international
varieties at Porto Carras, his interest is in native varieties. He was the
one who started the current vogue for malagousia, crafting a satintextured, peach-scented white wine out of a nearly forgotten grape
he'd plucked out of an experimental planting at Carras in the 1970s.
He was also one of the first to bring assyrtiko north, blending it 50-50
with malagousia for his estate white in 1986. That wine in 2016 is one
of Greece's most elegant, assyrtiko's austere lemon, herb
and saline notes tempering malagousia's fragrant
lushness. He's also resurrected limnio, mavroudi
and mavrotragano, three red grapes with rough
reputations. His 2013 doesn't hide their rustic
power, but channels it, the spicy black fruit
riding on tannins polished by barrel age.
Naturalization: The most stunning wine we
tasted from Gerovassiliou this year was not,
in fact, from a local variety. He has grown
Evangelos
viognier since 1993 and his latest release,
Gerovassiliou
from the warm 2016 vintage, was the first
one vinified by his son, Argyris. It has all the
satiny texture, floral scents and succulent stonefruit flavors the variety is known for. But what sets it
apart is how it captures its new home-the scents of the
sage, thyme and lavender growing on the hillsides;
the warm sun and the fresh breezes coming off the bay. In
Gerovassiliou's vineyards, viognier is no longer an interloper; it's a naturalized citizen. -T.Q.T.

Naoussa: Today, Yiannis Boutari is the mayor of Thessaloniki; his son
Stelios runs Kir-Yianni with his brother, Mihalis, a UC Davis grad
who recently returned to the family business after launching a winery in China. The heart of the brand is Yianakohori, a vineyard Yiannis planted in 1970. At a cool 1,000 feet in altitude, it's
a crazy quilt of experiments, each plot mapped for
soil, rootstocks, clones, trellising, row orientation
and planting density. Xinomavro, the local red
grape, rules here, but merlot and syrah grow
well, too. A bit of each in the Yianakohori
Hills blend gentles xinomavro's tough tannins; the 2014 is a particular bargain, since
hail damage forced them to fill it with fruit
that normally goes to their more expensive
bottlings. Their 2013 Ramnista is 100 percent xinomavro, and displays the grape's
Stellios Boutaris
uncanny ability to be both mouth-crushingly
tannic and seductively delicate. Its crushedvelvet tannins power the wine through a forest's
worth of truffle, rose and dried cherry flavors.
The New North: The Boutari family's roots are in Nyfeon, a
town in Amyndeon. With its cool, continental climate and poor,
sandy soils, the region has historically made very light xinomavro,
most of which disappeared into blends until recently. Yiannis Boutari
was an early investor, buying a hectare of vines in 1965. Now the winery has 50 acres planted to a host of varieties, native and imported.
The biggest success so far is Akakies, a rosé named for the acacia
trees that blossom in spring. It's a gentle introduction to xinomavro,
as well as to Amyndeon, the 2016 capturing the cool climate in its brisk acidity, and the grape in all its earthy,
tangy tomato-strawberry savor. -T.Q.T.

DETAILS & TOP WINES

Founded: 1981 * Owner/viticulturist: Evangelos
Gerovassiliou * Winemaker: Argyris Gerovassiliou * Acres
owned: 182 * Annual production: 37,500 cases * Estate
grown: 100% * Importer: Cava Spiliadis, Astoria, NY
Website: gerovassiliou.gr

Founded: 1997 * Winemaker: Antonis Kioseoglou
Viticulturist: Haroula Sprinthiropoulou * Owner: The
Boutari family * Acres owned: 138 * Annual production:
100,000 cases Estate grown: 70% * Importer: Diamond
Importers, Chicago, IL * Website: kiryianni.gr

95 2016 Epanomi Viognier $36 (8/17)
90 2016 Epanomi $20 (8/17)
89 2013 Epanomi Avaton $47 (8/17)

93 2013 Naoussa Ramnista Xinomavro $27 (8/17)
90 2016 Amyndeon Akakies Rosé $17 (8/17)
90 2014 Imathia Yianakohori Hills $18 (8/17)

G REECE E PANOMI
70

Cutting Loose: Kir-Yianni-or Uncle John-is Yiannis Boutari, scion of
the family that founded J. Boutari and Sons in the mid-1800s. Along
with his brother, Constantine, he began working for the family estate
in the 1960s, building it into one of Greece's largest, with wineries in
Naoussa, Nemea, Santorini and Crete. Yiannis left to launch his own
winery in 1997, taking with him some of the experimental vineyards
he'd planted in Naoussa, the brand's home base, and Amyndeon, a
high, cool plateau about two hours west.

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G REECE A MYNDEON /N AOUSSA

http://www.gerovassiliou.gr http://www.kiryianni.gr

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Winter 2017