Wine & Spirits - August 2019 - 71

YEAR'S BEST GREEK WINES
flavor from ten percent mandilaria. It's crisp,
herbal and savory, with a saline stoniness
that makes it especially palate-whetting. §
Craft + Estate/Winebow Imports, NY
271592

delicacy to the more typical savatiano base;
it makes for an especially breezy, refreshing
Retsina. § Craft + Estate/Winebow Imports, NY
272315

$17

2017 Retsina of Mesogia ^ "Baller Retsina,"
said Dimitrios Manousakis of NYC's Milos
when this wine came up in our blind tasting. And it is showy: bright yellow, with rich,
smooth mirabelle flavors energized by brisk,
cooling pine-resin notes. It's a terrific example of Retsina's potential when it's made with
care: Sotiris Gkinis bases this on savatiano,
which he grows organically in Mesogia, some
of the vines 60 years old. He harvests all his
fruit at night, to retain its freshness. After
ten hours of skin contact and a gentle pressing, the wine ferments in stainless-steel tanks
with a modest addition of resin harvested
from a nearby forest. Gkinis adds no sulfur
save for a small amount right before bottling,
so there's nothing to get in the way of the
wine's fresh, vibrant character. § Not imported.
272085

90 | Mylonas Winery

2018 Attica Rosé (Best Buy) ^ While this gains
its pink cast from 20 percent mandilaria, it's
the malagousia that forms the wine's base
and the flavors. It has that variety's silky
texture, with almond-nougat flavors playing bass to its floral notes. It's charming, an
easy going aperitif wine. § Diamond Importers,
Chicago, IL
272294

90 | Alpha Estate

$25

89 | Domaine Zafeirakis

$15

2018 Amyndeon Hedgehog Vineyard Rosé ^
Made from high-altitude xinomavro, this
pale rosé has a blush of red fruit from a prefermentation cold soak. It's glossy and green,
with notes of sage and underripe peach, an
elegant rosé for the dinner table. § Diamond
Importers, Chicago, IL
272088
2018 Tyrnavos Rosé of Limniona (Best
Buy) ^ This feels Italianate in its spicy acidity
and sottobosco notes, its cherry flavors ripe
and earthy. A broad, mouthfilling rosé, this
needs a light chill to cool the alcohol warmth. §
Dionysi Grevenitis Selections/DNS Wines, San
Francisco, CA
271820

88 | Gaia

$16

2018 Peloponnese 14-18h Agiorgitiko
Rosé (Best Buy) ^ The numbers refer to the
length of time this agiorgitiko spends on its
skins, taking up its bright color. It's nearly
a red wine in flavor, all tart raspberries and
spice, with a bitter edge that suggests serving
this with burgers or other meaty dishes. § Craft
+ Estate/Winebow Imports, NY
271612

88 | Tsantali

$14

2018 Macedonia Emmetros Logos Rosé
(Best Buy) ^ A blend of xinomavro and syrah,
this smells as smoky, fruity and vegetal as
grilled red peppers. It's unusual, a match
for stuffed vegetables. § Fantis Imports, Carlstadt, NJ

RE TS I N A
272217

93 | Gaia

$17

Retsina Ritinitis Nobilis ^ There's a word in
Greek for the cooling feeling that settles on
your tongue after a sip of a good Retsina: droserótita. Ritinitis Nobilis has this in spades, its
resinous flavors more akin to mint and mastic than pine resin. Yiannis Paraskevopoulos bases it on roditis, preferring the grape's

91 | Aoton

90 | Kamara

$27

Retsina Nimbus Ritinitis ^ Dimitrios Kioutsoukis takes an old tradition a step farther
than most, allowing the assyrtiko for his resinated wine to ferment spontaneously with
its skins, then leaving the wine to mellow in
old barrels. Its soft amber hue matches its
flavors, a gentle caress of apricot and orange
with notes of ginger and pine fronds. With
its spicy acidity and hint of grape-skin tannins, it's rich enough to pour with loukanika, a sausage often flavored with fennel and
orange. § Dionysi Grevenitis Selections/DNS
Wines, San Francisco, CA
271926

90 | Hermes

$13

Retsina (Best Buy) ^ This takes a light hand
with the pine resin, letting the delicate floral
notes of roditis come through. It's restrained,
with notes of orange blossom, bay laurel and
fresh pine needles playing in harmony. § Stellar Importing, Whitestone, NY
271228

88 | Greek Wine Cellars

$9

Retsina of Attiki Kourtaki (Best Buy) ^ This
is cool, clean, straightforward Retsina that
wears its pine scents proudly. It's exactly what
you'd expect-and want-at your neighborhood taverna. § Nestor Imports, NY

IS L A ND REDS
CRETE
271682

88 | Idaia Winery

$16

2014 Crete Idaia Gi (Best Buy) ^ A classic
blend of kotsifali and mandilaria, this has

an old-fashioned elegance, its figgy density
filigreed by notes of orange zest and tobacco.
While the fruit is mature, the tannins remain
youthful, wanting something beefy. § Sierra
Nevada Imports, Reno, NV
271258

87 | Greek Wine Cellars

$12

2017 Crete Kourtaki Vin de Crete (Best
Buy) ^ With its light weight, earthy cherryberry flavors and bay-leaf accents, this is
perfectly pitched for a backyard barbecue. §
Nestor Imports, NY

TINOS
272320

90 | X-Bourgo

2017 Tinos ^ X-Bourgo takes its name from
Exobourgo, the highest point on the island,
not far from the boulder-strewn hillsides
where the Kosmopoulos family farms their
vineyards. A blend of mavrotragano with a
small portion of mandilaria, this is juicy and
floral, the youthful purple fruit quick to overcome the wine's initial oak notes. Give it time
in the glass and it picks up more detail-
lilacs and licorice, a garrigue-like spice-with
a salinity that keeps the wine mouthwatering. § Not imported.

MAINL AND REDS
MACEDONIA
271520

96 | Markovitis

$22

95 | Taralas

$45

2013 Naoussa Xinomavro (Best Buy) ^
"There it is," sighed a panelist when he came
to this wine in the lineup. "That's what you
want out of xinomavro." What he was referring to is the pure flavor of red cherries, sweet
but firm, not at all overripe; and the forestfloor scent of dried leaves in early fall, as well
as the mushrooms pushing up through the
ground beneath them. And then there's the
burr of the tannins, fruit-filled yet mouthsticking, making each sip last for minutes
at a time. The 2013 vintage was exceptional
in Naoussa, free of extremes, but credit this
wine's greatness to Markos Markovitis, the
third generation to run this winery (formerly
known as Château Pegasus) who farms just
like his father, working his vines organically
and making a single wine from them. § Sierra
Nevada Imports, Reno, NV
272259
2007 Naoussa Xinomavro ^ Brother-and-sister duo Christos and Nikoleta Taralas farm
their family's vineyards in Polla Nera, where
the vines are 35 to 40 years old. This wine,
a library release from the estate, has mellowed into a fragrant, spicy red, scents of wet
WINE & SPIRITS

AUGUST 2019

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Wine & Spirits - August 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - August 2019
