Professional Ratings

• 96 Wine & Spirits
  When Haridimos Hatzidakis died in August 2017, he left behind a lone tank of 2016 assyrtiko that was still resting on its lees. After tasting it, the team was inspired to create Skitali. “It means ‘baton,’” says Constantina Chrisou, his widow. “It was something he’d given us, passed on.” Her daughter, winemaker Stella Hatzidakis, blended this 2017 using very ripe fruit from Pirgos and a smaller contribution from Megalochori; she fermented it in stainless steel and left it on the lees for a year. At 14.5 percent alcohol, it’s a big wine, staunch and meaty in build, yet entirely charming, welcoming in its juicy pear flavors, and cheerful in its tangelo and honey notes. And amazingly, it ends clean, with a cleansing salinity. “Haridimos loved old Santorini, especially unoaked wines,” Chrisou told me. While this wine is delicious now, it’s the sort of wine that would have delighted him with several more years in the cellar.
• 93 James Suckling
  For a dry white from the assyrtiko grape, this is remarkably generous and powerful with plenty of creaminess on the mid-palate from long yeast contact. The texture on the palate reminds me of high-end white Burgundy, which is remarkable when you consider this comes from a volcanic island in the Mediterranean! A hint of bitterness accentuates the freshness at the long finish. Drink or hold.