Wine & Spirits - August 2019 - 68

YEAR'S BEST
GREEK WINES

marzipan richness. Crisp acidity gives the
pear-like fruit precision and energy-the
sort that suggests this will age well over the
next decade. § Diamond Importers, Chicago, IL
272319

Our blind panels tasted 299 new-release Greek wines over the past 12 months.
Tara Q. Thomas, our critic for Greece, rated 66 as exceptional (90+) and 34 as Best
Buys. Find a complete list of wines tasted and all reviews at wineandspiritsmagazine.com.

ISLAND WHITES

SANTORINI

CRETE

98 | Domaine Sigalas

272309

271589

90 | Domaine Douloufakis

$17

2018 Crete Dafnios Vidiano (Best Buy) ^
This is a refreshing, delicate vidiano, with an
herbal, artichoke-like flavor. It's a light white
to pour with vegetable-based dishes all summer long. § Diamond Importers, Chicago, IL
272128

90 | Stilianou

$24

2017 Crete Theon Dora ^ Half vidiano, the
balance thrapsathiri and vilana, this is ripe
yet stern, gradually releasing its sweet apricot
and apple fruit from its stony structure. Yet
it's worth being patient, as the wine lasts for
days: There's a quiet buzz of floral flavor that
keeps it lively. § Eklektikon, Wilmington, DE

CYCL ADES
272305

91 | Domaine Sigalas

$22

2018 Cyclades Assyrtiko Monemvasia ^
Equal parts assyrtiko and monemvasia, this
is smooth and round, its flavors of lime and
stone fruit bound into a whipped-honey texture. That texture will coddle a silky piece of
black cod, or play off the sweet-salty flavor of
rock shrimp. § Diamond Importers, Chicago, IL

MYKONOS
272135

90 | Xydakis Microwinery

$35

2017 Mykonos Potamisi ^ Far from the nightclubs of Mykonos town, Giorgios Xydakis
farms a small hillside of vines, focusing on
local Cycladic varieties that he vinifies with
minimum intervention. This one, fermented
with ambient yeasts in a mix of stainless-steel
tanks and oak barrels, is full-bodied and gentle, its flavors of juicy golden apple and hay
kept buoyant by a little cidery volatility. It
gets fresher with air, taking on some floral
notes, a sunny wine for grilled shrimp. § Eklektikon, Wilmington, DE

68

WINE & SPIRITS

AUGUST 2019

$80

2017 Santorini 7 Villages Megalochori ^
In 2015, Paris Sigalas started vinifying his
assyrtiko by village, looking to explore the
terroir differences within this small island.
He now bottles seven wines, all vinified simply and identically (neutral yeasts, stainlesssteel tanks, 12 months of lees aging) so as
to make it easy to compare them. Side by
side they paint a fascinating picture of the
diverse microclimates, with Megalochori
standing out as one of the warmest spots on
Santorini. At lower elevations in the southern half of the island, the vines grew a deeply
savory wine, the flavors layered in shades of
white-chalk and sea shells, lemon pith and
sunshine. For all its concentration it feels
transparent and precise, a wine rendered
most powerfully in energy and light. § Diamond Importers, Chicago, IL
272312

97 | Domaine Sigalas

$80

2017 Santorini 7 Villages Fira ^ Sigalas picks
this from vineyards close to Santorini's capital at the caldera's edge, and it captures the
breeziness of this locale in its sea-breeze minerality. It's ripe but savory, the sweet lemon
startlingly bright, the chalky density quaking
with acidity. This one demands a swirl in a
decanter before drinking, to help it unpack
its intensity. § Diamond Importers, Chicago, IL
271596

95 | Domaine Sigalas

$80

94 | Domaine Sigalas

$65

92 | Karamolegos Winery

$25

2017 Santorini 7 Villages Vourvoulo ^ North
of Fira and inland from Imerovigli, the vines
in Vourvoulos catch the cold north winds,
a cooling influence in this warm pocket.
This wine captures that balance in its juicy
fruit and bracing acidity, the flavors recalling lemon wedges dipped in sea salt. It feels
youthful in its full-bodied density, wanting
time in the cellar to develop the floral and
herbal details that are just beginning to come
into focus. § Diamond Importers, Chicago, IL
272304
2018 Santorini Fermented in Oak Barrel ^
Paris Sigalas has dialed down his use of oak
in his barrel-fermented Santorini over the
years, now leaving the wine with the lees for
six months in used oak. That allows the smokiness of the oak to combine with the flinty,
smoky signature of Santorini's volcanic soils,
building a powerful white. Its leesy richness
provides a cushion for the mineral intensity:
The wine feels as round as a river stone, powered by a degree of alcohol and acidity that
demands this mellow in the cellar for another
five or ten years-or decant it for dinner with
lamb in a creamy, lemony avgolemono sauce. §
Diamond Importers, Chicago, IL
272260

$40

2017 Santorini Assyrtiko ^ The Karamolegos
family were grape growers before they began
bottling their own wines in 2004. Today
Lefteris Anagnostou makes the wines, supplementing the fruit from the family's vineyards with some purchased fruit for this
cuvée. It's smoky and salty, with taut, crisp
acidity and a leesy, broad middle that keeps it
from feeling severe. § Verity Wine Partners, NY
272316

2017 Santorini Assyrtiko ^ In 2010, when
Yiannis Valambous returned from London
to take care of a patch of vines his father had
purchased in Vourvoulos, he'd thought he'd
simply sell the grapes; by 2016, he'd built a
state-of-the-art winery, working with winemakers Ilias Roussakis and Yiannis Papaeconomou to craft wines from his grapes as
well as with purchased fruit. They are making some of the island's most sophisticated,
polished wines, like this 2017. Fermented in
stainless steel and left on the lees for seven
months, it gets a lot of lees stirring for the
first 60 days; that adds fullness to the ripe
fruit, its chalky flavor imbued with a smoky

2017 Santorini Cuvée Monsignori ^ Matthew Argyros crafts this new cuvée from a
single parcel of vines more than 200 years
old. All but five percent of the wine was
vinified in stainless-steel tanks; a small portion went into a 15-year-old Stockinger barrel. Though it stayed on the lees for almost
a year, the wine feels tight and restrained
right now, bound up in steely, chalky acidity. The energy held within its lemony fruit
suggests there's more to come with time; let
it relax in the bottle for a few more months
before cracking it open with grilled sea bass. §
Not imported.

96 | Vassaltis

90 | Estate Argyros
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Wine & Spirits - August 2019

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