Winemaker Notes
#85 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2023
Brilliant light yellow color with greenish hints. Intense and rich nose, typical of the variety, with citrus, passion fruit, honeydew and hints of oak. Full mouth, creamy, with excellent balance, freshness and finesse. Persistent after taste aromas with long finish.
Pair with white meats in rich creamy sauces by themselves or with pasta, smoked fishes, raw shell fish and crustaceans, fish platters, or grilled fishes.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A vibrant and tropical white with notes of green apples, passion fruit, lime curd and kaffir leaves on the nose. Touch of juniper berry, too. it’s medium-bodied, crisp and textured, with subtle flinty hints at the end. Vegan.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Sauvignon Blanc is unoaked and dry and comes in at 13.1% alcohol. Like the other 2022s in this report, this has a crisp and wonderfully fresh feel. It is tightly wound and not quite as vegetal as some but always leaning to freshness. There is plenty of zing and zest on the finish and it makes this work. For all that freshness and elegance, it has reasonably good concentration and feels substantial in its youth (in bottle only about 60 days when tasted). This is a beauty in its style and on its own terms. It's another success. It will drink great this summer, perhaps improve throughout the year and then hold on for several more. I do like to drink them on the younger side for safety, but I won't be surprised if this one does a little better than anticipated.
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Wine Spectator
A bright, light- to medium-bodied white, with hints of flint and chive blossoms accenting ripe green pear and melon fruit. Well-knit, with a minerally finish.
Capable of a vast array of styles, Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp, refreshing variety that equally reflects both terroir and varietal character. Though it can vary depending on where it is grown, a couple of commonalities always exist—namely, zesty acidity and intense aromatics. This variety is of French provenance. Somm Secret—Along with Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc is a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon. That green bell pepper aroma that all three varieties share is no coincidence—it comes from a high concentration of pyrazines (herbaceous aromatic compounds) inherent to each member of the family.
A picturesque Mediterranean nation with a rich wine culture dating back to ancient times, Greece has so much more to offer than just retsina. Between the mainland and the country’s many islands, a wealth of Greek wine styles exists, made mostly from Greece’s plentiful indigenous varieties. After centuries of adversity after Ottoman rule, the modern Greek wine industry took off in the late 20th century with an influx of newly trained winemakers and investments in winemaking technology.
The climate—generally hot Mediterranean—can vary a bit with latitude and elevation, and is mostly moderated by cool maritime breezes. Drought can be an issue for Greek wine during the long, dry summers, sometimes necessitating irrigation.
Over 300 indigenous grapes have been identified throughout Greece, and though not all of them are suitable for wine production, future decades will likely see a significant revival and refinement of many of these native Greek wine varieties. Assyrtiko, the crisp, saline Greek wine variety of the island of Santorini, is one of the most important and popular white wine varieties, alongside Roditis, Robola, Moschofilero, and Malagousia. Muscat is also widely grown for both sweet and dry wines. Prominent red wine varieties include full-bodied and fruity Agiorghitiko, native to Nemea; Macedonia’s savory, tannic Xinomavro; and Mavrodaphne, used commonly to produce a Port-like fortified wine in the Peloponnese.