Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 29
Assyrtiko vines growing
in clay-limestone soils at
Papagiannakos in Attica.
ATTICA
This past March, Kamal Kouiri, the beverage director at New York's Molyvos, went on a vineyard crawl
through Greece with the express goal of finding good
mainland assyrtiko. "I thought, in Burgundy, you
can get grand cru wines; and you can get declassified wines at a great price. Why not apply the same
thought to assyrtiko?"
To be honest, his search was also out of necessity:
"Santorini is making world-class wines right now, but
there is so much demand, and so little vineyard," he
says. "Ten years ago, assyrtiko sold for 75 cents to a
dollar a kilo; last summer it was $3.50 to $4 a kilo."
The glass that flew out the door at $12 a few years
ago is now priced at $18-out of the comfort zone
for many of his guests.
"I found a great one," he says, with a combination
of pride and relief. "Papagiannakos. It's from a chalky
vineyard in Attica, and you can see the water from it.
I was looking for wines that reflected where they are
grown, and when I tasted this one, I found that the
wine really captured the sunshine of Attica and the
breeze of the sea."
Funny enough, it wasn't easy to find, because Vassilis Papagiannakos has been hiding it for years. "We
planted the vineyard in 1995 and, from 2001 until
2006, I used the grapes to produce a wine called
Prive, which was a blend of savatiano and assyrtiko.
It was a great wine, but I decided to give it up for the
sake of my hundred-percent savatianos," he says. "I
didn't want people to think that the wine was great
because of the addition of assyrtiko."
The assyrtiko grows, in fact, right next to his savatiano, on the plain of Mesogea, two miles northwest
of his winery. The soil is different from Santorini's-
clay, with limestone bedrock 20 inches below-but
the climate has similarities, with constant sea breezes
and sunshine 320 days a year. "The vines-clones
of the Santorini assyrtiko-adjusted to the microclimate of the region easily," Papagiannakos says, "but
they need a bit more 'pampering' than the savatiano,
as they are newcomers in the area, especially with
pruning and in the canopy."
The youthful exuberance the vines show turns up
in the character of the wine, too: Mainland assyrtiko
tends to be soft and fruity on release. Kouiri and
Papagiannakos advise giving the wines a little time.
"Mainland assyrtiko needs one year to settle down,"
says Kouiri. "I want the fruit to dissipate so I can get
that minerality." Papagiannakos, for his part, holds
his back, so that the current vintage on the market
now is 2016. While it's rounder and softer than any
Santorini example, it has assyrtiko's mineral flavors
rendered in a rich, sunny Attica sense.
"In Burgundy, you
can get grand cru
wines; and you can
get declassified wines
at a great price.
Why not apply the
same thought to
assyrtiko?"
-Kamal Kouiri
WINE & SPIRITS
AUGUST 2018
29
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - August 2018
Contents
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - Cover1
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - Cover2
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 1
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 2
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 3
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 4
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - Contents
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 6
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 7
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 8
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 9
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 10
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 11
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 12
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 13
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 14
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 15
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 16
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 17
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 18
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 19
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 20
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 21
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 22
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 23
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 24
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 25
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 26
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 27
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 28
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 29
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 30
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 31
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 32
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 33
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 34
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 35
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 36
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 37
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 38
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 39
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 40
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 41
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 42
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 43
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Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 45
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 46
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 47
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 48
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 49
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 50
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 51
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Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 53
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 54
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 55
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 56
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 57
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 58
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Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 60
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 61
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Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 63
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Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 65
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 66
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 67
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 68
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 69
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Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 73
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Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 87
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - 88
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - Cover3
Wine & Spirits - August 2018 - Cover4
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