Community Tasting Note

forceberry wrote:

Saturday, July 15, 2017 - A blend of Assyrtiko (50%) and Sémillon (50%), oak-aged for 8 months. Served blind.

Luminous pale lime color - surprisingly light color for the style. Complex nose with aromas of citrus fruits, subtle creamy oak, nuanced toasty aromatics and vanilla, light resinous tones, a hint of peach and a touch of sour apple candies. The oak aging is obvious, but fortunately the oak does not dominate. The wine is broad and quite full-bodied on the palate with moderately oily mouthfeel, yet the wine feels also surprisingly lively, dresh and acid-driven. There are flavors of lemony citrus fruits, some creamy characteristics, a little bit of peach, a hint of sweet oak spice and a touch of smoke with a mineral undertone of Assyrtiko's salinity. The complex finish is quite long, creamy and layered with focused flavors of smoke, some sweet oak spice, a little bit of saline minerality, a hint of yellow stone fruits and a touch of vanilla.

At first I thought if this was a well-made Bordeaux Blanc, probably due to the oak and Sémillon. However, the style was a bit different, so it was quite impossible to pinpoint the wine: guesses ranged from the most classic European wine regions to the modernist new world producers, but no-one guessed Greece until after many minutes of pointless guessing. That means that the wine wasn't particularly Greek in style (although one could argue how Assyrtiko showed through with its lemony and saline characteristics), but it was still a surprisingly well-made and balanced modern white wine with noticeable, but still judicious use of oak. Although I would let the wine age for several years more, just to integrate the oak a bit better with the fruit. There's a lot of stuffing in the wine in regards to cellaring, that much is obvious. Great stuff.

Post a Comment / View forceberry's profile
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue (1,037 views)