Ktima Gerovassiliou Malagousia 2017
Background
We’ve been really excited lately about wines coming out of Greece. Now, it should be said that the wines of Greece had a bad reputation in the 80s and 90s. The only Greek wines that people in North America were familiar with were large-format, cheap plonk or Retsina, a tart white wine flavoured with pine resin. Neither of which were anything to write home about.
Much has changed and in the past few decades, the winemakers of Greece got together and started Wines of Greece, a business entity with the goal of getting the English-speaking wine world to be a little more comfortable with some of the better wines that the country has to offer. The first thing to do was to include English on wine labels. No longer would Dads across the world be able to pick up a bottle of Greek wine and say “It’s all Greek to me!”. The second goal of Wines of Greece was to implement the same strict vine-growing and wine-making regulations that are seen in other countries. The last, and maybe most savvy business decision was to narrow the focus of wine varieties. Greece has hundreds of indigenous grapes, but in order to step on the world stage, Greece chose to focus mainly on four grapes, two white and two red (Assyrtiko, Moschofilero, Xinomavro, and Agiorgitiko).
The plan worked perfectly, and in the last 20 years Greece has improved their wine-making reputation on the world’s stage. So much so that it has become one of the better countries to find small producers doing some very interesting things. Enter the Geravassilou family. Situated in the Northern hills of Epanomi, a peninsula surrounded by ocean on three sides, the family is making world class wines from popular grapes like Syrah, Merlot and Chardonnay, but they are also intentionally choosing to farm old (ancient) indigenous grapes like Mavroudi, Mavrotragano, and the grape we’re featuring here, Malagousia.
Tasting Notes
This is a single vineyard wine, hand harvested and fermented at low temperatures. The ferment is done mostly in stainless steel (to retain freshness), but some of the fruit is fermented in French oak barrels (to add richness). The result is a beautiful wine with rich exotic fruit flavours. Yellow pear, mango and sweet citrus aromas jump out of the glass. The structure of the wine is also really pleasing delivering this super-rich mouthfeel. You can tell these grapes were grown in a fairly hot place, but the natural acidity of this grape variety shines through to balance everything out. This is a great wine to have with food.
Food Pairing
‘Dense, lean’ seafood. Sorry if that sounds strange. We couldn't think of a better way to say it, but basically, we think this wine has the kind of long finish that is great with ocean proteins like swordfish, tuna, or octopus. The rich body in this wine will hold the acidity to your palate and lift those proteins a bit. Greek wines and octopus, it’s a no-brainer.
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