{"id":17271,"date":"2017-03-14T11:19:28","date_gmt":"2017-03-14T11:19:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/?p=17271"},"modified":"2018-12-30T06:44:03","modified_gmt":"2018-12-30T06:44:03","slug":"fun-in-athens-a-wine-shop-and-two-wine-bars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/greece\/fun-in-athens-a-wine-shop-and-two-wine-bars","title":{"rendered":"Fun in Athens: a wine shop and two wine bars"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"giannis<\/p>\n

I really enjoyed Athens. On the first evening we popped into Mr Vertigo, a brilliant wine shop (and importing company) run by Giannis Siganos (above). He gave us a taste of some Greek wines from a producer in Cephalonia, and they were just brilliant.<\/p>\n

\"sclavos\"<\/p>\n

Sclavos Vino di Sasso Robola de C\u00e9phalonie 2015 Greece<\/strong>
\nFrom limestone soils. Amazing precision with a fresh acid core and some richness of texture. It’s linear and the acid is so well integrated with the pear and table grape notes. Smoky and mineral in the background, but also so generous. 94\/100<\/p>\n

Sclavos Synodos 2014 Cephalonia, Greece<\/strong>
\nThis is a red wine that’s a blend of Mavrodaphne with a bit of white grape Vostilidi. It’s from ungrafted vines aged 40 years or more. It’s beautifully floral, ripe and sweet wth silky berry fruits. Very smooth with some peppery detail and lovely finesse to the ripe, lush fruits. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Sclavos Metagnition 2014 Cephalonia, Greece<\/strong>
\nThis is 100% Vostilidi. It’s an orange colour with intense, nutty, spicy flavours of grapes, pears, melons and whisky. Lovely weight to this unusual, rich, textural wine. Some almonds, too. 93\/100<\/p>\n

\"Konstantinos
Konstantinos and George<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then it was off to dinner with Konstantinos Lazarakis, Stellios Boutari (of Kir Yianni) and George Skouras (Domaine Scours). We tried a few nice wines, as well as eating well.<\/p>\n

\"Stellios\"
Stellios<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Skouras Salto Mavrofilrero Wild Yeast 2015 Peloponnese, Greece
\n<\/strong>From a 700 m plateau, this was harvested in the second week of October. It\u2019s a black-skinned clone of Moscofilero, made as a white wine. Very linear and pure with great acidity and attractive pear and citrus fruit. Juicy and fruity with nice presence. 90\/100
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Karadimos Family Palaiokastra Malagousia 2015 Atalanti, Greece
\n<\/strong>Linear, stony, generous and rich with some pear and melon fruit. Fine spices with some ripe apple notes. A rich, fruit-driven white with some oxidative hints and nice depth. Distinctive. 91\/100
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hatzidakis Nyxtepi Assyrtiko 2014 Santorini, Greece<\/strong>
\nA late-harvested Assyrtiko weighing in at 15% alcohol. Overnight skin contact lends this a deep colour, and it\u2019s oak aged for 15 months, only partially topped. Intense, spicy and vivid with some marmalade and citrus, as well as keen acidity. Rich and powerful, yet with some freshness, spiciness and good acidity. 91\/100<\/p>\n

\"kir<\/p>\n

Kir-Yianni Ramnista Xinomavro 2015 Naoussa, Greece<\/strong>
\n14.5% alcohol. This is vivid with a bit of mint and spice, as well as fresh raspberry and black cherry fruit. Smooth and stylish, this is a ripe interpretation of Xinomavro, with just a bit of its trademark tannic grip on the finish, lurking under the attractive fruit. 91\/100<\/p>\n

\"skouras<\/p>\n

Skouras Megas Oenos 2003 Nemea, Greece
\n<\/strong>12.5% alcohol. This was the first \u2018super-Nemea\u2019 wine, and it\u2019s a blend of 80% Agiorgitiko and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, first made in 1986. It\u2019s aromatic, sweet and leathery with black cherries, plums and lovely ripe fruit. There\u2019s an elegant, mature character with herbs, leather, black cherries and blackberry fruit. Textural, mature and stylish, and drinking well now. 93\/100
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The next evening, we popped into two very impressive wine bars. First was By The Glass. Here we tried three wines, including a pair of older Assyrtikos.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_6307\"<\/p>\n

Apla Dry Ros\u00e9 Wine 2016 Drama, Greece<\/strong>
\nFrom the far north, this is a blend of Xinomavro and Cabernet Sauvignon. Really nice texture to this dry ros\u00e9, which is rounded and stony with fresh red cherries and a hint of strawberry and pear. Nice texture: dry with real finesse. 90\/100<\/p>\n

\"IMG_6312\"<\/p>\n

Gaia Estate Assyrtiko \u2018Thalassitis\u2019 2011 Santorini, Greece<\/strong>
\nReally expressive and open with a creamy edge to the nutty citrus fruit and some lovely minerally acidity under the developed fruit. Expressive with real interest. Lovely purity and a citrussy finish, as well as almond hints. 92\/100<\/p>\n

\"IMG_6311\"<\/p>\n

Sigalas Assyrtiko 2008 Santorini, Greece<\/strong>
\nPale in colour. Pure and linear with a lovely salty, mineral edge to the citrus fruit, with a hint of nice reduction. There\u2019s a bit of candied richness here and some subtle toast. So pure and linear. Drinking beautifully now. 93\/100<\/p>\n

\"IMG_6318\"<\/p>\n

The second stop was a lovely wine bar with a more natural bent called Heteroclito. Here we had a gorgeous natural white.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_6314\"<\/p>\n

Ligas Kidonitsa Barrique 2015 Pella, Greece<\/strong>
\nThis is made by taking the end off a barrel and fermenting the white grapes as if they were red. It\u2019s a deep orange colour, with a bronze hint. Marmalade, spice, nuts and pears with some grip under the tangerine and lemon fruit. Some cold tea character and a bit of fruit sweetness, with nicely integrated tannins. Lovely stuff. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Find these wines with wine-searcher.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I really enjoyed Athens. On the first evening we popped into Mr Vertigo, a brilliant wine shop (and importing company) run by Giannis Siganos (above). He gave us a taste…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[203],"tags":[415],"class_list":["post-17271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-greece","tag-greece"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17271"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22414,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17271\/revisions\/22414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}