Ghi ke Uranos
As the temperature drops, I yearn for Xinomavro. No other wine is so strongly associated with autumn and winter. With so much personality, it needs strongly flavoured food. Pheasant, woodcock, or deer and wild boar are the obvious choices.
The maiden vintage of Ghi ke Uranos 2004 shook up the sleepy appellation of Naoussa. The difference lies in the vineyards. The Thimiopoulos family have several plots around Trilofos, the southernmost part of the appellation. Not unlike the great Coche-Dury estate in Burgundy, they are nearly always to be found in their vineyards. They do know how to coax this characterful grape with the ripest tannins.
The 2006 is, to date, the most complete wine. Yields are low. It is a blend of old and younger vines. The grapes were harvested healthy after two weeks of sporadic rains. Apostolis Thimiopoulos, the wide-eyed oenologist , adds: “Tannins were so ripe that it allowed us to go for a long extraction, which suited more this difficult vintage than the much drier in weather 2005″.
If you are lucky enough to get a glass of this thoroughbred, do not rush it. Xinomavro loves oxygenating. Rotating it around your glass is a revelation. Initially there are broad strokes of fraise de bois strawberries. It continues to morph with more forthcoming fruit. There is a hint of allspice and sloe berries and the hallmark ‘sweetness’ of this grape. Very attractive tannic bite, followed by a crystalline red berry fruit throughout the palate, which lingers on to the finish. This wine has a ‘story’. Introduction, subject, epilogue. Beautifully said. It has stamina to age.
Ghi ke Uranos is one of several cult wines with a larger international following. Actually, the majority of this vintage is to be found in trendy restaurants in New York (US label is Uranos) and Paris.
Score: 17.5 / 20
US Distributor: www.winebow.com
French Importer: Oenos Fruit Pierre Lumiere. email:Oenos.fpl@free.fr
1.11.2008
