I’d say that the Savatiano grape has been saved from the glare of a certain limelight of in Greek wine. I label it a glare rather than a shine because it is the base grape of a highly polarizing wine style: Retsina. Savatiano is Greece’s most widely planted vine, too, so it isn’t too surprising that it is a productive one.
Read MoreChatzivaritis 2015 Rhoditis Eurynome: Rhoditis means rose, and this variety absolutely brings tremendous fragrance into the glass. The bottling also has a cleverly disguised, 21% of the “acid black” variety Xinomavro made in a blanc de blancs fashion. The palate is full of honeydew and Canary melons with whispers of gingerbread.
Read MoreCombine two well-known winemakers with a significant dose of ambition and a chunk of fine terroir, and you’ll naturally have compelling results. This is true even with Vassilis Tsaktsarlis’ and Vangelis Gerovassiliou’s unknown variety project, Biblinos Oenos, a black grape about to be registered on Greece’s “National List of Varieties.”
Read MoreLast weekend twenty judges from Europe, Russia and the US gathered in the name of wine at the inaugural Balkans International Wine Competition in Sofia, Bulgaria. Two days of judging followed by two days of wine festival called for frequent reaching across the table - and not just to pour wine. The discoveries were enticing for palates, engrossing for wine nerds and intriguing for history and politics buffs.
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