Served the following to 90 guests at Friday night's neighborhood wine tasting. It was an open, non-blind tasting, and all the wines were purchased by me. The Xinmavros were opened and splash decanted the night before, all the other reds opened and splashed the next morning. A cool factoid: I had three Greeks in attendance, and my endeavor to find wines from literally every corner of Greece managed to coincidentally nail each one's heritage, even the little island of Cephalonia/Kefalonia.
At first I wasn't going to buy retsina, then I decided it would be the elephant in the room if I didn't. I bought these four at random at a local Mediterranean market appropos of absolutely nothing--just grabbed one of everything:
NV Zacharias Vineyards Omikron Retsina Nemea
My favorite and group favorite of four retsinas. Made from 100% roditis. I don't know if that's the base for all retsinas (I suspect not), but of the four I only know the base grape in this one. Very sauv blanc-ish with fresh rosemary and sage. Crisp yet elegant. A game changer with regard to most of us and our attitude toward this Greek specialty. So good we're going to sip on the leftovers tonight with feta cheese and olives.
NV Achaia Clauss Retsína Attica White Blend
2nd best of the four retsinas. Lacks the elegance of the Omikron but has more body and there's something fetchingly old school about it (like the label). Nose is definitely more rosemary than PineSol. I could drink this!
NV Greek Wine Cellars (D. Kourtakis) Retsina of Attica White Blend
This seems to be the standard supermarket retsina, I saw it everywhere. Probably because it has a better distributor, not because it's justifiably popular. Not awful like the Hermes below, but not elegant like the Omikron above. Yet it has the earth of the former and the rosemary of the latter. Could drink it, but wouldn't choose to.
NV Hermes Retsina Wine Traditional Appellation Mantinia White Blend
My first comment was, "Tastes like dirt!" so I was amused to find a reviewer on CT who said exactly that. Last place of four retsinas.
The reds:
2015 Domaine Zafeirakis Limniona Tirnavos
I have no background for judging Greek wines, but the closest equivalent in the geek-wine world I do know is Sicilian Mt. Etna nerello mascalese. Bright spicy cherry/loganberry up front and deeper plum on the palate with pretty spice notes, volcanic minerals and briliant acidity. Good length on the finish. Impressed! Good by itself, even better with food. My WOTN.
2016 Mitravelas Estate Agiorgitiko Red on Black Nemea
Honestly, not bad for $12. Cocoa dust and a grapey finish, big dark fruit on the midpalate and yes oaky but friendly, and at least the tannins didn't rip your face off like the xinomavros.
2013 Domaine Spiropoulos Agiorgitiko Red Stag Nemea
Plums and dandelions--underripe green flavors and not enough fruit. Bitter, screechy.
2014 Domaine Karydas Xinomavro Naoussa
Hard and tannic even after being opened and splash decanted 24 hours earlier, but there's actually some fruit here, unlike the wan '15 Kir-Yianni. Needs many more years, though.
2015 Kir-Yianni Xinomavro Ramnista Naoussa
Opened 24 hours in advance. Nebbiolo-like acidity, scant fruit, completely ungiving and tannic. Second day leftovers: even less fruit. I've had this in other vintages and liked it--here, a disappointment.
2016 Lyrarakis Syrah Kotsifali Crete Red Blend
Dark, sweet roasted cherries with a little smoke and red-clay minerality. There's also a lovely bit of funk that is similar to Washington's Rocks district syrahs. Startlingly good, and drinks a lot more expensively than it's $15 price tag. After tasting this I had to go back to my receipts to make sure I really had only paid $15 for this. My #2 wine.
2016 Skouras Zoé Peloponnisos Red Blend
Most popular Greek red at the tasting. Approachable fresh, sweet fruit with modest tannins like a good merlot worked for new world palates and, for many, defied prevailing beliefs about Greek reds. (To talk a couple who have travelled all over Greece and never had a wine they liked, I had to promise to give their money back if they didn't find one at this event.)
The whites table:
2016 Gentilini Robola of Cephalonia
Super pale. Very minerally with a vegetal nose that reminded me of an old Tourain sauvignon blanc after the fruit has faded. Reading notes from others one-two years ago, that would seem to be the case here--fruit's just gone.
2016 Domaine Gerovassiliou Malagousia Epanomi
Perfumed with spice and asian fruits, very similiar to gewurztraminer. Quite rich and reductive on the palate with a long honeysuckle and kaffir lime finish. It's interesting, but more powerful than refreshing. A splash of water actually livened it up. Malagousia was apparently on the brink of extinction when Mr. Gerovassiliou decided to save it and create a vineyard. Possibly behind the Spec putting it on their 2018 Top 100, an unusual honor for a basically nobody wine.
2017 Domaine Zafeirakis Chardonnay Tirnavos
A credible, balanced chardonnay with sage, salinity and crushed oyster shells. Dry and food-friendly.
2017 Santo Wines Assyrtiko Santorini
My favorite of five Greek whites. Rather Chablis-like with some flint among the minerals. Good body, dry finish. A bargain for $15.
2017 Sigalas Assyrtiko-Athiri blend Santorini
Nose of green bananas, sweetish midpalate with dry finish. Nice, though I can't figure out what the athiri brings to it.
And a dessert wine to go with Greek figs:
NV Hermes Mavrodaphne Mavrodaphne of Patras
This is an NV wine so it's impossible to compare one person's experience to another, but this wine exceeded expectations for a $10ish Total Wine purchase. Light, balanced, spicy, complex notes of plums, dates, raisins, cloves and cinnamon. For the price, an eye-opener.