Ultra-Premium Greek Whites

Le Petit Sommelier Restaurant, Athens, Greece
Tasted Thursday, October 18, 2012 by Yiannis with 628 views

Introduction

The release of the first 2 white wines that retail in Greece for over 30 euros a bottle, namely T-oinos Assyrtiko and Sigalas Assyrtiko Grand Reserve, gave me the idea to organize a blind tasting to compare these 2 wines with other premium or highly regarded on the local market Greek whites.

Flight 1 (2 Notes)

The chardonnay flight. One 100% chard and one were chardonnay is blended with assyrtiko.

  • 2011 Tsantali Kormilitsa White 88 Points

    Greece, Macedonia, Mt. Athos

    A blend of chardonnay and assyrtico, fermented and aged in oak casks. Displays an interesting nose of roasted nuts and citrus fruits but some hints of reduction are also evident and do not vanish completely with aeration. Medium-bodied with a crispy acidity and a long, nutty aftertaste. I was the only one to include this wine in my personal top 3, since the rest of the tasters thought it was one of the worst of the night.

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  • 2011 Antonopoulos Vineyards Chardonnay ANAX 89 Points

    Greece, Peloponnisos, Achaia

    New vintage for this premium chardonnay from Peloponnissos, and probably one of the best to date. Pronounced orange zest, sweet oak, ripe peach and mellon with swet oak on the nose. Medium to full bodied, creamy-textured with a nice fruit/oak combination, balancing acidity and a long aftertaste. Already approacheble but will improve after a couple of years in the cellar. 4 points and shares second place with Skouras Viognier Eclectique 2011.

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Flight 2 (3 Notes)

The assyrtiko flight. Surprisingly, the winner was a non-Santorini assyrtiko.

  • 2011 T-Oinos Assyrtiko Clos Stegasta 86 Points

    Greece, Aegean, Cyclades, Tinos

    This is the first Greek white to retail in Greece for over € 30 a bottle (around € 37 to be more specific), so I was so curious to taste it and find out what is so special about it to justify the price. Medium to light yellow-green. Reastrained nose with citrus fruit and stony minerality. Medium-bodied with noticeable salinity, powdery feel, medium fruit concentration and a medium+ acidity. Nobody found anything to justify paying for this wine three times the price of a decent Santorini, hence neil points from the panel.

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  • 2010 Karadimos Family Assyrtiko Therinos 88 Points

    Greece, Continental Greece, Attica, Atalanti Valley

    Medium straw with green hues. Lemon pie, green apple, pear, sandy minerality and scents of pineapple. Full bodied with noticeable alcohol, rich fruit and balancing acidity. Long aftertaste. Voted WOTN alongside Biblia Chora Ovilos 2011.

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  • 2009 Sigalas Assyrtiko Nychteri 88 Points

    Greece, Aegean, Cyclades, Santorini

    Sigalas's new flagship wine retailing at three times the price of the winery's regular Santorini. It was this wine's release that gave me the idea to organize this tasting, to compare this and T-oinos with other premium Greek white wine offerings. Expressive nose with roasted almonds, glue, citrus fruit, tropical fruits and minerality. Full-bodied, creamy-textured, big (the result of 30 months on the lees!!!) and sweet (high residual sugar content) with noticeable heat from high alcohol (15%), tremendous concentration and balancing acidity. Long aftertaste with heat. This is Sigalas's tribute to a traditional style of Santorini named nychteri (meaning the result of a process accomplished overnight) characterized by very ripe grapes (late harvest) and the use of old casks to vinify and mature the wine. Usually the end product was maderized to an extent but this is the only dimension of the traditional "nychteri" not adopted here. This wine received zero votes mainly due to the intense glue element that annoyed the tasters. A love it or hate it monster of a Santorini.

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Flight 3 (3 Notes)

The viognier flight.

  • 2011 Domaine Mercouri Viognier Comma Berenice 85 Points

    Greece, Peloponnisos, Peloponnese

    I included this wine in the tasting despite its low price, just to have a reference from the budget wines category to compare. In fact, among the pricier wines it seemed rather weak and diluted, obviously lesser to when I tasted it by itself. That said it remains a decent offering for the € 10 it costs. Received only 2 points from 1 taster.

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  • 2010 Domaine Gerovassiliou Viognier 86 Points

    Greece, Macedonia, Epanomi

    Intense candied chestnut (marron glac'e), very ripe apricot and sweet oak. Med+ body, rich fruit, moderate acidity and a med+ aftertaste. Received 1 point.

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  • 2011 Skouras Viognier Eclectique 88 Points

    Greece, Peloponnisos, Peloponnese

    Best of the viognier flight. Dark gold. Expressive nose with candied peach, apricot, sweet pipe tobacco and marzipan. Full-bodied, rich and creamy with moderate yet sufficient acidity and a long aftertaste. Needs some time to integrate the oak. Received 4 pointsand ranked on 3d position alongside Antonopoulos Chardonnay Anax.

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Flight 4 (3 Notes)

Semillon and friends. The 2 pure semillons were the night's underperformers.

  • 2011 Biblia Chora Ovilos White 90 Points

    Greece, Macedonia, Pangeon

    WOTN for me and shared No 1 position with Therinos 2010 according to the panel. Seductive nose of lime zest, herbs, apricot and less oak than previous vintages. Very sauvignon-like (reminiscent of a cool-climate rather than a Greek sauvignon blanc) although there is no sauvignon blanc in the blend, but semillon and assyrtiko. Medium-bodied, extremely refreshing and zippy with bright fruit and lipsmacking acidity. Long aftertaste. Different to previous vintages but equally good if not better. 12 points overall.

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  • 2010 Domaine Costa Lazaridi Sémillon "Chateau Julia" 82 Points

    Greece, Macedonia, Drama

    Last and least was the semillon flight. Both wines were underperformers but this was better than the much pricier Perpetuus. Restrained nose of apricots and herbs, light-medium bodied, lean, fairly balanced with a rather short aftertaste. Zero points from the panel.

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  • 2008 Nico Lazaridi Sémillon Perpetuus White 75 Points

    Greece, Macedonia, Drama

    Disappointing. Tired, with honey, dried grass and mushrooms. Medium-bodied with the signs of overmaturity evident on the palate as well. 100% semillon aged in acacia barrels. Zero votes.

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Closing

The result was rather disappointing for the pricey newcomers, since they performed poorly against the "establishment".
The final ranking acoording to panel votes was:
1. 2011 Biblia Chora Ovilos - Greece, Macedonia, Pangeon (12 points)
1. 2010 Karadimos Assyrtiko Therinos - Greece, Attica, Atalanti Valley (12 points)
3. 2011 Antonopoulos Vineyards Chardonnay ANAX - Greece, Peloponnisos, Achaia (4 points)
3. 2011 Skouras Viognier Eclectique - Greece, Peloponnisos (4 points)
5. 2011 Domaine Mercouri Viognier Comma Berenice - Greece, Peloponnisos (2 points)
6. 2010 Domaine Gerovassiliou Viognier - Greece, Macedonia, Epanomi (1 point)
6. 2011 Evangelos Tsantalis Kormilitsa - Greece, Macedonia, Mt. Athos, Agioritikos (1 point)
The rest of wines received no points.

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