18 products
Santo Winery Santorini Assyrtiko 2023 750ml
Domaine Skouras Peloponnese Moscofilero 2023 750ml
90 Points Wine Advocate | The 2022 Moscofilero (in the Skouras transliteration) comes in with 3.5 grams of residual sugar, 6.4 of total acidity and 12.1% alcohol. This is sourced from 31-year-old vines at 650 meters in altitude. As I like to say, this "regular" Moschofilero (Skouras has an alternative spelling) is the kinder and gentler version as compared to Skouras's Salto in this report. This rounds off the acidity that the Salto shows and balances it with a little sugar, resulting in a wine that is less tart but not even a little sweet. Like its Salto sibling, though, this is beautifully structured, showing some tension on the lingering finish. The fruit is more expressive than on the Salto, but its not completely developed. The Salto may have some more upside potential, but this seems to be the better-balanced wine this year. It should also age pretty decently, perhaps for the rest of the decade. Be conservative there, though. For the moment, giving it a couple of months more in the bottle wouldn't hurt.
Fermented in stainless steel vats. Short skin contact, no malolactic fermentation and short aging over fine lees. Flowery, crisp acidity, intense on aromas and flavors in the nose and mouth. White flowers, soft and fresh, honeysuckle, violets, rose petals, crisp acidity. Winemaker Description.
Kir-Yianni Akakies Sparkling Rose Macedonia 2022 750ml
Producer Description
100% Xinomavro sourced from Amyndeon, across the mountains from Kir-Yianni’s home base of Naoussa and a historical source for high-acid grapes for rosé.
This is fermented to an irresistible 17 grams or so per liter of residual sugar before a Charmat-method secondary fermentation that comes out to a creamy 3.5 atmospheres of pressure.
Oenos Mittas Naoussa Xinomavro 2022 750ml
Producer Description
The style of the wines being made by Mittas is broadly traditional. Low-intervention farming (the vineyards are now fully converted and licensed as organic) and wine making are the general rule. Tannin management incorporates only periodic—twice daily—manual punchdowns and 500-liter French oak barrels while the fruit, acidity, and alcohol levels are reminiscent of Naoussa wines from 40 years ago. Mittas’s wines reward on release and don’t necessarily need long aging because of their elegant nature.
The grapes for this bottling undergo 15 days of skin contact, with twice-daily pump-overs. The wine is aged for a year in French oak barrels, 25% first use, and then for an additional year in bottle. On the nose, the wine shows red and dark fruit, plum, and spice notes. The wine is medium bodied, and the tannins are well integrated with the fruit. The wine opens beautifully with a bit of time in a decanter. Enjoy it with your favorite lamb dish.
"Oenos Mittas is owned and operated by Yiannis Mittas. Yiannis' family is one of the oldest in the northern Greek region of Naoussa, and while his family has been in the wine industry for generations, Yiannis is the first in his family to make and bottle his own wine. After graduating with a degree agricultural technology, he purchased a 1.8 hectare plot in the famous Paliokalias vineyard — considered one of the best Crus in Naoussa — in 2018. Planted in 1971, Yiannis' Xinomavro vines (average age of 25 years) are planted in soils of clayey-limestone with some sand; the vineyard is in the process of organic conversion. Winemaking is traditional and minimal intervention is used in both the vineyard and the cellar.
The Oenos Mittas Xinomavro is aged for one year in French oak (25% new), followed by one year in bottle. The wine displays a deep ruby red in the glass, offering aromas of dark berry and stone fruits mixed with notes of cedar, licorice and tapenade. The palate is medium-bodied and elegant, exhibiting flavors of red plum, macerated black cherries and blackberry with notes of earth and leather. There is just the right amount of acidity that interplays with this Xinomavro's moderate, yet approachable tannic structure. The finish is pleasing and persistent. This is an ideal pairing for any lamb dishes... from traditional gyros to kebabs, rack of lamb to hearty stews."
Hatzidakis Santorini Familia Assyrtiko 2023 750ml
Producer Description
Soft yellow colour with golden shades and delicate aromas of citrus, white flowers and minerality. Full and aromatic on the palate with an intensive mineral character. Long aftertaste with a certain freshness coming from the crunching acidity of the wine.
Santorini Familia Hatzidakis Winery is an emotional Greek wine that marks the transition of the winery to the hands of the children and the family of the late Haridimos. Some of the best, ungrafted vines give the best fruit, for a classic and beloved Santorini!
Haridimos Hatzidakis was a charismatic creator. He was a creator and not just a winemaker because his wines were works of art that generated feelings and made even better memories. Hatzidakis made wines of minor interventions, with indigenous yeasts and from ungrafted vines long before it became a trend! The gap he left, as well as his legacy, is huge. All family members joined forces to continue his work, bottling their love in Santorini Familia Hatzidakis Winery.
Selected 15 - 80-year-old vines of Assyrtiko in Pyrgos give their super-concentrated, precious Prod. The harvest is done manually and the wine fermented with indigenous yeasts, in stainless steel tanks. It matured for 6 months and then it was bottled unfiltered.
GAI'A Thalassitis Assyrtiko Santorini 2023 750ml
Winemaker Description
THALASSITIS is produced from Santorini’s indigenous white grape variety, Assyrtiko. All the Assyrtiko grapes selected for THALASSITIS originate exclusively from vineyards in the Episkopi, Akrotiri and Pyrgos regions. The vines in these regions are almost 80 years old. The particularly low yield that never exceeds 25 hl/ha combined with the local terrain and variety, result in an exuberant wine with a strong personality.
Enjoy it at 10oC with seafood, fish, shellfish or even lamb stewed in lemon sauce, generally with flavors of moderate intensity, where salt, brine or oil predominate. Don’t forget to pour THALASSITIS into a wide decanter half an hour before serving. You will definitely be pleased by the result!
You may wish to age THALASSITIS for a further 2-3 years, which will result in its mineral dimension diminishing, while its fruity and honey aromas will expand.
Alpha Estate Xinomavro Hedgehog Vineyard 2019 750ml
Winemaker Description
Bright purple-red color. Complex, typical bouquet of small berries red fruits, leather and spices (vanilla, pepper, clove), with hints of ripe blackberry. Full mouth, rounded tannins, balanced acidity and well integrated wood tones. Long aftertaste with intense quince aroma.
Expert Reviews
Decanter 95 Points | Gorgeous aromatics of pot pourri, wild strawberry and red cherry. Vibrant and bright with well-managed tannins, plenty of juicy and crunchy fruit and refreshing acidity. (2019).
Wine & Spirits 92 Points | This has more to it than its super-friendly face initially lets on. Give it some air and flavors emerge from under that bright cherry-red fruit—some of xinomavro’s telltale tomato-leaf and lamb-fat notes, carried on a fine burr of tannins. Inviting and complex. (2019).
Pomegranate, wild red berries and flowers on the nose, following through to a juicy, medium-bodied palate with firm, dusty tannins. Very pristine and bright fruit profile, before a juicy, linear finish. (2019).
Robert Parker 90 Points | The 2019 Xinomavro Hedgehog Vineyard was aged for 12 months in 50% new French barriques. It comes in at 14.02% alcohol. This feels a little delicate in the mid-palate, but it expands in the glass and coats the palate nicely eventually. Silky and bright, it has a fresh feel and a lively demeanor. The tannins are ripe here, not getting in the way too much, even with very young Xinomavro. The freshness is the biggest selling point. The acidity creates a juicy finish with the fruit lifted on the palate. This seems like a pretty nice Hedgehog this year. It should hold another decade or so, give or take. Xinomavro does not die easily.
Magoutes Siatista Rose 2023 750ml
Winemaker Description
Magoutes Vineyard is located at 800 metres above sea level in the inhospitable region of Siatista in Macedonia. The rosé is a blend of 80% Xinomavro and 20% of the über rare Moschomavro (meaning black Muscat), grown almost exclusively by Dimitri Diamantis.
This is a classic case of the vineyard holding sway over the wine making, thanks to Dimitri's very low intervention methods. Spontaneous fermentation, racking off skins and then left in old barrels to finish.
Delicate, partridge eye colour, subtly aromatic bouquet with hints of redcurrants and fraises de bois, the flavours are wonderfully fruity within a structured core of zingy acidity.
Lyrarakis Psarades Vineyard Dafni Crete Organic 2022 750ml
The Cretan variety Dafní was saved from extinction by the Lyrarakis family, when it was planted in the "Psarades" vineyard at 480m. altitude in the early '90s. Its name derives from the laurel (bay leaf) plant, “Dáfni” in Greek, due to its aromatic resemblance.
A wine with a distinctive herbal character, refreshing mouthfeel and intense aftertaste, in a citrus fruit background.
Bat Gara Arabako Txakolina Urtaran Cuvee 2021 750ml
Nuanced and structured whites are dry, medium-dry or medium-sweet wines with characteristically mineral and herbal flavours and aromas.
You can also discern citrus, gooseberry and blackcurrant notes in these wines. Crisp acids add the necessary structure, making them an ideal accompaniment to food.
Thymiopoulos Vineyards, Xinomavro, Young Vines, NAOUSSA Macedonia 2022 Biodynamic 750ml Vegan
Winemaker Description
Fragrant aromas of fresh red fruits, herbs and an elegant vegetal character. Crisp acidity balances the richness of the body. The aftertaste is complex and long.
Skouras Nemea Aghiorghitiko Saint George 2021 750ml
Wine Enthusiast | Clove, thyme and dried fennel aromas complement fruity black-cherry notes on the nose of this Agiorgitiko from Skouras, a 1986 winery in the Nemea region of Greece’s Peloponnese. The light-bodied palate has ripe red and black fruits plus faint cinnamon flavors, indicative of the winemaking process: This wine is fermented in stainless steel and aged in old French barriques for a year. It then sits six more months in the bottle before release. The results are easy drinking and enjoyable, with balanced fruit and acid followed by velvety tannins on the long finish.
Domaine Zafeirakis, Limniona, Tyrnavos hessaly 2019 750ml
Winemaker Description
Domaine Zafeirakis’s 12 ha (30 acres) of vines are planted in Tyrnavos, in the foothills of Mount Olympos (seen in the image below) in Thessaly in the east of central mainland Greece. The winery is marked near the town of Larissa on this World Atlas of Wine map of Greece. This is a perfect spot for Limniona, a thick-skinned and high-acid grape which loves hot days and cool nights.
Expert Review
Jancis Robinson states as follows: The 50 Great Greek Wines. Zafeirakis Limniona 2019 was one of my favourite reds in the selection I tasted. It was already showing some signs of the interactions that happen between the many components in a wine when it ages in bottle (in those wines not made for immediate consumption), so that while all that lovely dark and dark-red fruit and the gentle spice notes provide delicious intensity and freshness – more blackberry and cherry than blackcurrant or strawberry – there’s now also the first signs of complexity, flavours that are much harder to describe because they are so special to high-quality, maturing red wine.
The tannins are starting to soften though not yet silky, and while there is no rush to drink this, it is perfect now: a tantalising array of aromas and flavours to capture your attention even if you have indulged in a late-December flavour-fest or have opened one or two expensive bottles saved for special occasions. The last two lines in my tasting note read: ‘A sophisticated wine that still packs a punch. Seriously moreish.
Domaine Sigalas MM I Mavrotragano Mandilaria ,Cyclades Aegean Islands 2021 750ml
Winemaker Description
Deep crimson color, refreshing scent of red fruit, a bouquet of finely blended aromas, tannins, and acidity.
Domaine Sigalas, AA I Assyrtiko and Athiri SANTORINI 2022 750ml
Pale lemon color. On the nose, citrus, tropical and flower blossom notes. Flavors of citrus fruits, peach and mango while emerging hints of white flowers. Pairs with fish, sea-food, salads, white meat, and fruits. Winemaker Description.
Diamantis Winery Magoutes, Moschomavro, Siatista Macedonia 2019 750ml
Our Professional Review
Debra of 67Wine.com | This Moschomavro, which translates to Black Muscat, is a Greek indigenous varietal exclusively grown in this lesser known appellation Siatista, north west Macedonia. This fragrant wine has wonderful fresh, bright berry fruit complimented with dark berry fruit, herbal, savory and zesty flavors . It is medium bodied, approachable, harmoniously balanced with supple tannins, acidity and a nice lingering finish. This wine is made with minimal intervention , a hands off approach, capturing a pure expression of this varietal character. A great wine for the adventurous and those who enjoy Nebbiolo and old world pinot noir.
Pair with grilled meats, poultry, roast chicken.
Winemaker Description
Magoutes winery, run by Dimitris Diamantis, is located in the old but forgotten region of Siatista in the mountains of northern Greece. Moshomavro means 'black muscat' but is no relation in parentage or flavour!
Delicate, floral notes with woodland hints. This is like drinking bone dry Beaujolais with nice grippy tannin. Moshomavro is incredibly rare, all new plantings come from Diamantis's original plantings. This pretty example is so balanced. It sings out with its strawberry fruit, interleaved with rooibos tea! Unlike any gentle red we've ever come across!
Diamantis Winery sits in the rugged, mountainous north-western hinterland of Macedonia. A place of stark beauty and cool climate which, unlike most of Greece, sees no sea- softening maritime influences from either the Aegean or Ionian by virtue of its high, inland isolation. In this landscape sits Siatista, a town whose history with vines runs back to at least 1670, although since records have been lost or destroyed by various revolutions, wars and conflagrations both specifically in western Macedonia and Greece more generally, the true length and breadth of the viticultural history of this area is somewhat obscured.