#84- Agiorgitiko

It was a beautiful September day and we were having an exceptionally warm month compared to let's say- our July. I love barbeques so I was intent on making the most of the nice days. I had already planned my dinner- a rack of baby back ribs (pork) with a side greek salad. Now all I needed was a wine to match.

Greek salad + Greek wine = perfection! Or that's what I was hoping for anyway when I chose a Greek wine for dinner. While the ribs were busy being barbequed to deliciousness on the grill, I went inside and popped open the bottle of red to let it breathe a bit before dinner.

Now I haven't had the greatest luck of late with my Greek wines (even though I love Adonis Greek looking boys, greek mythology and my dream is to go to Greece and explore their history- heck I even fake married a Greek boy this summer in Thailand...ahem..different story...digressing back....)

So it was with a little trepidation that I pulled out a 2007 Kouros Nemea wine. It is bottled by Kourtakis Wine Cellars.

In a word- fabulous! This is just excellent wine! I'm sitting here writing the blog sipping on the wine weeks after I originally opened it (yes I'm way behind on my blog writing) and it is still amazing in the mouth. I did keep it in the fridge but I thought for sure it would have gone bad.

Indeed it hasn't. In fact, it might be better than what I remember it to be when I paired it with the ribs and the greek salad (though I will say that I loved that meal- nearly finishing the bottle, all of the salad and a half rack of ribs to boot).

The wine is very aromatic and the fruit smacks you in the face long before you stick your nose to glass. beautiful ruby colour, the wine has been aged in oak barrels for 6 months (I love oaked red wine). It is moderatly rannic and 13% alcohol. It is buttery and voluptuous in the mouth. So many different flavours bounce in your mouth, a truly balanced and elegant wine. I very much love this wine and will be buying it again for sure. It appears oxidation of the wine doesn't affect it too much which is good to know if you don't finish a bottle right away.

The grape is the Agiorgitiko grape and it has been grown in Greece since forever (500 BC). It is low in acidity and is a moderate wine. The names means St. George in Greek. God bless St. George! It is a heat resistant wine therefore making it a great grape to grown in Greece (so I've heard- anyone want to pay me to go? Takers? Anyone? Hello!) It's grown in the Nemea region (the wine is from this region). It is a soft tannic wine and is quite dry.

I can't wait to finish the bottle. And I think I will unless Craig puts up a fuss. What's that Craig...silence...great! Let's down this baby!

#46- Savatiano

I'm pretty sure it's apple juice. Besides it looking identical to childhood's favourite juice (think urine yellow to be frank), to me, this wine tastes exactly like apple juice. According to the bottle I have the fruit wrong but when it tastes like juice, does it really matter?

The Savatiano grape is widely known in Greece and is often used in Retsina. It's not acidic at all and is considered a lightweight wine. It's easy enough to drink but it does leave a very distinct fruity taste in your mouth. While some wines are quite clean and once they're swallowed, that's it, this one tends to wallow in the back of your throat for a while. I can't say I'm a fan.

I guess if I wanted to drink apple juice, I'd drink apple juice. To be, the wine isn't distinct enough in its taste to really want me to drink more. I remember bragging just a few short blog posts ago how I hadn't met a Greek wine I didn't like. Well, I don't like this one. Apparently they only made 4,100 bottles in 2005. Probably a good thing. The winery is the Fragou Winery in Greece.

According to the back of the bottle, the fruity taste is from orange blossoms and peach. Odd as I don't taste orange at all (I do have to admit I had two Christmas oranges today so perhaps it's ruined my tongue for the orange) and I certainly don't taste peach! Dammit it's apple!

Being a Greek wine, I opted to eat a nice Greek salad with the wine. I think I liked it when I did eat it with salad, the dressing nicely offsetting the sweet taste of the Savatiano. Paired with vegetable, the wine went down easy enough so having a Greek salad with this wine is an excellent choice.

I doubt I'd get this wine again (okay maybe but just to see if I do or don't really like it, a comparison to this one) especially when I have enjoyed so many other Greek wines so much more!

UPDATE: Craig liked the wine (so it's a neutral pick). He liked the apple like taste and said it went well with turkey sandwiches.