2010
Agiorgitiko The Wise Owl

This joint venture underlines the open-minded attitude of Nemea-based I Sofia tis Fisis (Nature’s Wisdom) and the forward thinking of the Katogi-Strofilia wineries. It all started after a casual roadside meeting between Nikos Bouzinelos and veteran Achilleas Lampsidis. As Sofia tis Fisis make Greek varietal and herb-infused vinegar, petimezi (grape syrup), and other grape-based products, they are not geared to make wine per se.

A healthy dose of skepticism enters my mind every time I read “organically farmed grapes” on a label. “Who is your neighbor”, is the first of many questions any wine writer worth his salt should ask. So after tasting this news-worthy effort, off I went to see where The Wise Owl grapes originate. Beyond a pretty bucolic setting of olive groves interrupted by nature’s exclamation marks, cypress trees, this Paleochori single vineyard on the north-eastern flank of Koutsi is in good company: conifers. With a growing demand from the US market and Europe for natural wines, both principals jumped to the opportunity and joined their talents. Petros Keknopoulos, oenologist at the Katogi-Strofilia winery in Nemea’s Asprokambos, was the perfect man to take up this challenge. His principals had the good sense to send him off for a year to become a post graduate student at the Australian Wine Research Institute, in Adelaide. “No-sulphite wine is the most difficult to control. Luckily, harvest had not yet begun. There is quite a lot of preparation; one needs to sterilize all the kit. It is a demanding but fun project.”

So all you switched-on readers are by now wondering why the back label still states: “10 parts per million of sulphur”. The answer is that the fermentation process naturally creates tiny quantities of sulphur. Interestingly, white wine produces higher amounts than red.  Another tip: Just after harvest, I got to taste the 2011 Wise Owl. It is fruitier. No lover of Nemea should give this wine a miss. It is a new to all of us facet of this charmer of a grape. Yet again, as this novel approach clearly demonstrates, we really know very little about its dynamics.

Very dark for this grape, as no-added-sulphite wines usually are. Bright floral notes with black pepper. Textbook Agiorgitiko core of cherries on the mid-palate.  Ripe tannins, spice following through on the rich, tasty finish. Vibrant and pure. Such a sense of place that not all of Koutsi (500m) is capable of. Stylistically, a modern take of Nemea, which I first  encountered in 1993. Serve it at cellar temperature in large glassware. For immediate enjoyment. Best 2011-2013.

Score: 16 / 20

For more information please visit www.sofiatisfisis.gr and www.katogi-strofilia.gr

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9.11.2011


Santorini Brewing Company crazy donkey 5.5% ABV

One of my summer highlights was rediscovering Sake as wine. My Japanese friend and I bartered Sake for wine made from indigenous grapes. Now, what has this got in common with fresh beer in these pages? Surprisingly, quite a lot, even a terroir connection.

SBC’s ambitious new venture was founded by a clutch of cosmopolitan partners. The guiding lights as to three, so far, styles of fresh beer are an Austrian consulting brewer, an English marketing guru with a penchant for brewing, and a Greek oenologist. The resident Master Brewer is Boban Krunic, who is Serbian, and Managing Director is the Californian Magda Anderson. I know, this sounds like an introduction to a joke. In fact, this is a serious effort by players brimming with talent and determination. In the current economic gloom, smiles have been wiped off people’s faces in Greece. This effort could not be more timely. Something positive to fuel some passion back into our daily lives.

In search of my hunting terroir, I get to taste unexpected, to say the least, concoctions. A taste apart? A white wine, of sorts, on the island of Evia. It was kept in cask made of Cyprus wood. Taste-wise, let’s call it a medicinal elixir. There is something similar, though more sophisticated, on the island of Lanzarote. As those of you who have followed my writing may know, I have never liked beer. This mass-produced, pasteurized stuff is one-dimensional, lifeless, tasteless. What’s worse, the morning after, I wake up with a soapy palate. Enough said.

This new crazy donkey ale is of limited production. No hype here, all true. Per batch 200 champagne bottles. The wine connection comes through two unexpected sources. This is the world’s first unfiltered, non-pasteurized barley-malt beer primed with Santorini Assyrtiko (2011) must. The wine kinship continues with help from another famous wine producing island, New Zealand. Not in the form of its signature grape, but Sauvin, one the world’s prized New-Zealand-grown hops. As the tasting note reveals, though, there is a similarity in the aromatic and tasting profile.

The back label is no crashing bore of legal requirements. It is informative, entertaining too. Not unlike the people involved in this venture. The witty parting shot is, “HIP HOPPY KICK-ASS ALE. Semantics apart, crazy donkey is the first ale as wine that I know of. SBC’s other two brews are yellow donkey and red donkey. More about those later.

Cloudy orange in colour. Long-lasting frothy head. Hoppy wine notes reminiscent of Sauvignon blanc. The southern-Aegean volcanic juice seems to lurk somewhere in this briny, yeasty, rich cocktail. As improbable as this sounds, it works. This is an unexpectedly fruity ale, with an IPA-ish mid-palate which goes on to a very fruity finish that seems to go on forever. A rarity. Who knows, it may even convert a few of us wine lovers to what Egyptians called “liquid bread”.

Score: 18 / 20

Website: www.santorinibrewingcompany.gr

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24.10.2011


2010
Melías Domaine Papagiannakos

Within eye distance of Athens International Airport one sees thousands of acres in vine. This is, par excellence, white wine country, planted to the Savatiano grape.

More recently, the aromatic Malagousia grape has also been grown in this ”sea” of Savatiano vineyards. Hailing from north-western Central Greece, this fashionable aromatic grape seems to have adapted well in its new limestone-rich home.

In its 21st century incarnation, the Papagiannakos winery has garnered praise in architecture magazines. It has also picked up several awards for its energy-efficient design. In a roundabout way, this new dessert wine has much in common with its ancestors in these vineyards. Malagousia, is the Greek vineyard’s less oily answer to Viognier. In Attica’s long-standing farming traditions, out of thrifty necessity, locals maximized the vine’s offerings through resourcefulness. In late spring/early summer, vert jus from unripe green grapes was used as an alternative to lemon juice. During harvest, grape must was used as natural sweetener to bake biscuits named mousto- (must) kouloura. A dash of cinnamon et voilà: healthy energy-packing carbohydrates. The fine lees were used in baking pork. Lees and grape pips were used as a protective rind in cheese-making. Nothing went to waste.

Topping this rather long list of uses is “vrasto” (boiled) to make sweet wine; some of it served sacramental purposes and some as a handy pick-me-up during winter pruning.  There was a social aspect in partaking at Xmas, or drinking by the fireplace.  Vrasto is the method that 3rd-generation winemaker Vassilis Papagiannakos has revived for this maiden vintage of Melías: He starts with boiling approximately 40% of the desired final quantity of wine with Malagousia grape must. He then adds successive doses of the live fermenting grape must. Eventually, this golden-coloured nectar ends up with 13% ABV. Natural sugar reaches 120 gr./l. Balance in such a rich wine comes from 6.9 gr./l. of acidity (in tartaric). The uncluttered label is elegant, not unlike the liquid itself, in a useful 500 ml. clear bottle. Who says Attican wines are boring?

Honeycomb waxiness, acacia-honey aroma. Smokey. Ripe pineapple. Textured cedrat on the medium-length, layered finish. Fine balance. Satisfying. Drink 2011- 2016.

Score: 17.5 / 20

For more details please visit: www.papagiannakos.gr

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29.09.2011