Wine & Spirits - Fall 2018 - 65

GAME CHANGERS

Retsina

Recently, I set out a bottle of Retsina along with a few other wines, and the Retsina flew. "What is this?" my neighbor asked, refilling her glass. "You're drinking
Retsina?!" her tablemate exclaimed, then insisted on trying it himself. If you're
old enough to remember when Retsina was rotgut flavored with pine, then try one of the new-wave bottles: They are
made from high quality wine and the pine resin is more a suggestion than a coating. And if you're lucky enough to have
never tasted the rustic version, then just think of this traditional Greek wine as similar to craft vermouth, without the
added alcohol. It's wine with extra flavor, a hint of pine to add a cooling, refreshing aspect. Producers who were once
biased against Retsina are newly proud of it; Vassilis Papagiannakos used to refuse to even talk about his Retsina, for
fear it would tarnish his reputation. This year, it was the top Retsina we tasted. -TARA Q. THOMAS

Kechris Retsina Roza

Gaia Retsina Ritinitis Nobilis
Yiannis Paraskevopoulos uses roditis instead of the
more typical savatiano for his Retsina, sourcing his
fruit from a vineyard at 3,280 feet in altitude. That
elevation makes for a vibrantly fresh, crisp wine, all
lemon zest and fresh-cut herb flavor. The pine resin
is an extra breath of fresh air, a high-toned note with
a cooling effect that recalls mastikha, while a seashell
minerality holds the wine firm. Strident and original,
it's delicious with tyropita, Greek cheese pies. (90
points, $17; Athenee Importers & Distributors, Hempstead, NY)

Kamara Retsina Ritinitis
Nimbus Orange
By choosing assyrtiko, a powerful grape, and leaving it on
the skins for a week, Dimitrios Kioutsoukis turned out
a wine that meets the power
of the pine resin head-on.
Fermented with ambient
yeasts and mellowed in old
barrels, the wine is more
spicy than piney, its notes of
mint, roasted fennel seeds
and camphor mingling with
peach and orange. Skin tannins give the wine grip, making this a Retsina for rich dishes, like pork belly bo ssam.
(90 points, $25; Dionysi Grevenitis Selections/DNS Wines, San Francisco, CA)

Stelios Kechris crafts this unusual wine from xinomavro,
macerated for just long enough to take on a bright pink
color, then fermented in oak barrels. The grape's earthy
cherry fruit goes surprisingly well with the flavor of
pine, its herbal notes melding with the resin so that it's
impossible to tell where one component ends and the
other begins. With its significant structure and weight,
it's a Retsina for richer dishes, like roasted eggplant
and tomatoes with feta cheese. (91 points, $30; Mina
Distributors, Milford, CT)

Kamara Retsina
Made from roditis grown in the
cool north of Greece, this smells
more like an herb garden than
a pine forest, channeling Retsina's cooling power in notes
of thyme blossoms and peppermint. With its lemony acidity and clean, delicate feel, it's
appetite arousing, especially if
there's fresh seafood and fried
zucchini fritters nearby. (90
points, $10; Dionysi Grevenitis Selections/DNS Wines, San
Francisco, CA)

Domaine Papagiannakos
2017 Retsina
Vassilis Papagiannakos takes
a light hand with his Retsina,
choosing a base of clean, fresh
savatiano and adding only a
small amount of fresh pine
resin. The result is a wine with
lemon-pulp juiciness and the
scent of a pine forest after a
rain. It feels buoyant and elegant, with enough complexity and structure to stand up
to fish with chermoula. (92
points, $15; Craft + Estate/The
Winebow Group, NY)

WINE & SPIRITS

FA L L 2 0 1 8

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Fall 2018