Marinated some chicken in a "Greek" marinade and thought it only right to raid my wine cellar of something from Greece ... Turns out I am not a big Greek wine collector - I have some bottles of Mavrodaphne de Patras, some Assyrtiko and some Agiorgitko, and a bottle or two of Xinomavro and that's about it. So it didn't take me long to settle on this 12 year old bottle of Boutari. Now according to my records I paid a paltry $9.10 for this bottle - which now seems like a steal. The colour of the wine was an orangy-brown; I usually don't take note of the colour unless it is unusual, not that a 12 year old wine being orangy-brown is unusual, but it was interesting to note. The nose had lots of dried fruit and crunchy leaves smells - there was nothing fresh about the aromas, but it wasn't off-putting either - put it this way: I wasn't afraid to try it. The taste was of real interest and it kept changing through the night, but in a good way. Started off as forest floor with pencil lead notes, then dried cherry and dried blackberry took over followed by black currant and dried raspberry fruit leather ... the wine seems to have retained some great acidity with a touch of dried herbs on the finish ... a couple hours later there seemed to be some wood kicking around that wasn't there before. All in all a pretty good find for under $10, and to hold it this long and still be able to drink it with pleasure I can't complain one bit.
Showing posts with label Greece. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greece. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Palivou Vineyards 2000 Agiorgitiko (St. George) - (Greece)
I don't showcase a lot of Greek wine because I don't have a lot of Greek wine in the cellar, but after tonight's bottle I have to ask myself why? I just finished putting together a blog entry for Ottawa Life, that will appear in September, about a tasting of Greek wines I did back in May. I was then looking through the earlier part of my wine cellar (organized by year) and found this 2000 Agiorgitiko and thought it would be appropriate to open that up for dinner. Funny thing is I used to drink quite a bit of Greek wine, one of my early favourite reds was a light bodied easy drinker from the Aegean Islands.
I have learned over my time of drinking and writing about wine that I am not always going to get those fresh fruit flavours just because I open a fresh bottle of wine. Wine ages, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, but when you open a ten year old bottle you're definitely gonna get something interesting. Which brings me to this bottle: It's old, but it's definitely still quite drinkable with dried fruit mixed with cedary-oak notes (more wooden than fruity) with hints of acid and spice. It seemed to go pretty well with the goat cheese stuffed chicken breast I made. I'm surprised at how well it stood the test of time ... about 20 minutes into the drinking I noticed a bit of that foresty floor aroma and taste, but not in a rotten way, more in a character nuanced way ... I must admit I was shocked, amazed and surprised that the wine was still as alive as it was.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Gaia (Greece); LA Cetto (Mexico); Apollonio (Italy)
Family dinner tonight, and as usual I am the guy in charge of the wine. Brought a few bottles, you never know what is going to go over well and what will be shot down. Tonight everyone agreed the Gaia White (2007 Thalassitis) just wasn't up to snuff. (my notes: over-ripe apple, touch of butterscotch and spice, but the wine seemed cooked, heavy and over done). The LA Cetto 2005 Zinfandel fared much better delivering up a plethora of easy drinking enjoyable flavours, mostly it was plummy and rich. Finally, with the main course I pulled out the piece-de-resistence the 2001 Apollonio Valle Cupa, a 50/50 blend of Primitivo and Negroamaro - plums and cherries greet the nose with a touch of chocolate and wood spice, still has good tannins and smoky port-like nuances on the palate. Very enjoyable. Most of the white saw the sink, but both bottles of red were drunk dry.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Gaia Wines 2007 Notios (Greece)
Most of the wines I open I have an idea of what they will (or should) taste and smell like, sometimes I am surprised (pleasantly) or disappointed (sadly) ... but tonight I pulled out a wine from my haul last night. You see last night I was at a fundraiser held by Tony Aspler for his charity of choice - Grapes for Humanity - I was a "heavy", as Tony called us; no I was not the bouncer, I was carrying boxes of wine out to people's cars. As a token of thank you Tony past those working for him a few bottles of mystery-wine and tonight I opened one of my bottles. It's from Greece, made by Gaia Wines and from the Agiorgitiko grape - sub-named "Peloponnisos Regional Wine" ... and you know what? For a bottle that I received in gratitude and gratis I have to say I am quite happy with it. Red fruit dominated with a touch of spice and herbs, beautiful colour and easy drinking - just a bit of tannins, very interesting; and as it opens up it develops red cherries and sweet vanilla. Not sure what I'm having for dinner yet but the wine it will go with is very nice. Thanks Tony.
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