Savatiano Risin'

Savatiano Chillin'

It's survey time here at Whine On The Rocks. 

How many of you have heard of Savatiano? 

How many of you associate this variety with retsina, Greece's piny, Aquafresh-like wine that tastes like diluted toilet bowl cleaner when poorly made? [Editor's Note: The author is not being judgemental.]

No? Yes? Maybe? Boy, I've got news for you.

A few weeks ago, thanks to an event organized by Vassos Eliades Ltd., at Pralina Experience in Nicosia, I sat at the table with the big boys of Cyprus wine for a comprehensive tasting of Papagiannakos Winery's mad-scientist experimentation with all-things Savatiano.

Vassilis Papagiannakos, who now runs the winery, walked us through his story with Savatiano, a once disfavored variety with a four thousand year history that everyone solely associated with retsina. According to Vassilis, once the winery started experimenting with cold fermentation, Savatiano gave out a range of fruity aromas in the vein of Assyrtiko and Roditis, and its potential as a dry, non-resinated wine began to take shape. Furthermore, the terroir, said Vassilis, if treated like Burgundy and other great wine-making areas of the world, could lead to the production of excellent wines that could age for decades.

Vassilis Papagiannakos (right) Talks Savatiano

Case in point, during a 2014 visit by Wine & Spirits journalist Tara Q. Thomas, Vassilis organized a vertical tasting (2007 to 2014) of his Savatiano Old Vines with Thomas boldly asking for even older vintages. After sampling the 1998 and 2000 Savatiano, she deemed these wines world-class. About the 1998, Thomas writes, "The wine is a rich, golden color and smells of petrol, like old assyrtiko. Caramel flavors gild the fresh almond notes, the acidity mild yet still vibrant."

Vassilis Papagiannakos then led us through a tasting of the five Savatiano wines currently in his portfolio, and the variety's diversity, quality and uniqueness was put on display for all. Here are one amateur's tasting notes.

2017 Domaine Papagiannakos Savatiano Old Vines - Light, fresh nose with hints of green apples, herbaceous notes, lightly peppery and almost soy-like. On the palate, nutty, mature citrus fruits, apples and pears with solid acidity. Very tough to beat at the price point, which is about 6 to 7 Euros in The Rock's major supermarkets.

Savatiano Revealed

2016 Domaine Papagiannakos Savatiano Vientzi Single Vineyard - This wine comes from Vassilis Papagiannakos' father's favourite sixty-year-old vineyard called Vientzi. Very nutty and herbal nose marked predominantly by hazelnuts. Once tasted, the hazelnuts persisted and combined with notes of apples, pears and citrus with a lovely loukoumi-like sweetness running through the mid-palate. Really good length.

2016 Domaine Papagiannakos Savatiano Natural - This was the strangest yet most alluring wine of the tasting. I really couldn't place its nose and picked up notes of mushrooms, green beans, nuts and white pepper. Really strange. One of the Cypriot sommeliers in attendance said it reminded him on salt-and-vinegar crisps. On the palate, though, this wine sang: smooth body with clean lines, bursting with touches of apple and pears. My second favorite of the soiree.

Veal Tenderloin with 2017 Savatiano Bareli

2014 Domaine Papagiannakos Savatiano Ktima - Here Savatiano starts showing off its aging potential as secondary aromas  develop. A very nutty, almond-like nose with hints of smoke and even gaminess. Plenty of orange peel, bitter oranges, lemon zest, apple and pears with a lovely nutty finish. Good length and medium-plus acidity.

2017 Domaine Papagiannakos Savatiano Bareli (Barrel Aged) - This was my favorite wine but I can definitely see how it's not for all; its unctuousness might be a bit over the top for some. A beautiful potpourri-like nose, very floral, very fragrant. Once sipped, there's a rush of sweet, overripe pears and baked apples, candied orange peel and loads of sweet spice. Keep in mind this wine is fermented and aged for five months in oak barrels and undergoes no battonage. This wine definitely needs a few years to soften up.

White on White

Domaine Papagiannakos on Display

Greek wine has come a long way since those ignoble days when retsina, the pine-tinged beverage that reminds me of a freshly cleaned boy's toilet, defined the country's wine industry. During the past ten years, Greece's exciting work with a myriad of endemic varieties have left a conspicuous mark on global wine lovers' palates; demand for these wines is rapidly increasing and, unfortunately, prices are soon to follow with Paris Sigalas' earth-shattering whites, for instance, already asking fans to cough up an additional ten Euros per bottle. On average.

Besides Xinomavro, a red I would love Axe to bottle up as deodorant, two of my favourite Greek varieties are whites. Santorini's flagship Assyrtiko, of course, which breathes in the island's volcanic rock and brackish breeze and creates a wine that makes you lick your lips and pucker up. The second one is Malagousia, a dwindling variety that was rediscovered by Vangelis Gerovassiliou, and reminds me of the peaches, mango and cream body lotion The Wife, Ph.D., rubs on her tummy whenever she's trying to seduce me.

Vassilis Papagiannakos at A.G. Leventis

Besides these, however, I've recently re-discovered two other Greek whites that have further accentuated the country's unbridled potential as a world-class wine producer: Savatiano and Moschofilero.

During recent industry events in Nicosia, I had the privilege of tasting two of these varieties' incarnations and, while they do not belt out Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On in the same way Assyrtiko and Malagousia do, they've done enough to tickle my fancy.

Savatiano was originally known as the main grape behind retsina, a status that unfortunately blemished its reputation as a variety capable of delivering bigger and better wines. However, thanks to the work of Domaine Papagiannakos just a stone's throw away from Athens' airport, Savatiano has gathered steam during the past two decades and started showing plenty of potential as a grape capable of shining on its lonesome. As mentioned in a 2014 article by Tara Q. Thomas in Wine & Spirits magazine, Vassilis Papagiannakos' "young savatianos have caused waves all over Greece for their fruitiness and clarity—characteristics not often associated with the variety." In an event hosted by importer Vassos Eliades Ltd., at the A.G. Leventis Gallery, Vassilis mentioned that this variety is his pride and joy, one that has been worked on for decades and has firmly put his winery on Greece's wine map. His 2015 rendition delivered as evinced by my review below.

2015 Boutari Oropedio Moschofilero

As for Moschofilero, I have always loved the versions put out by both Skouras and Tselepos. It came as a pleasant surprise, however, to enjoy Boutari Winery's latest experiment with the variety—the barrel-aged Oropedio from Mantineia—during a soiree organised at Caraffa Bastione by its importer Photos Photiades Group. I've always associated Moschofilero—with its pinkish hue, citrus undertones and oh-so-sweet spice—to a more subtle understudy to Gewürztraminer, and Boutari's latest experiment didn't change my mind. And before you get all uppity about my description for this variety, please take it as a compliment: Gewürztraminers are sometimes like a once pretty woman who's iced her face with one dollop too many of turquoise-toned makeup.

2015 Papagiannakos Savatiano - Vibrant aroma of orange peel, stone fruit, apples, white flowers and sweet spice. On the palate, there's plenty of apple, melon, some honeysuckle and beeswax, and (maybe, just maybe) a piney element, which could be my brain telling me we're edging closer and closer to retsina. Full-ish to the mouth with good length, quite waxy and a bitter finish, which can be confounding. 86/100.

2015 Boutari Oropedio Moschofilero - Somewhat tropical on the nose, reminiscent of pineapple doused in sweet spices and a touch of white flowers. The palate is dominated by notes of baked apples with cinnamon, some pear and a delicious citrus finish. Medium bodied, quite fruit forward yet short, and overall well received thanks to its loukoumi-like qualities. 87/100. 

Wine On The Seahorse

After Crete, what's Greece's largest island? Quick, clock's ticking.

Do you see the seahorsey?

If you answered Evia, the seahorse of a rock separated from mainland Greece by the Euripus Strait, then, congrats, you get a well-earned smiley face (or pat on the butt) on this impromptu quiz. At its narrowest, the strait is only thirty-eight meters. So unless you are Greek, a geography or history buff or some sort of mutant with superhuman vision, it's practically impossible to tell it's an island from just looking at a map. I live on this side of the world and I had no clue up until about a week ago that what I thought was a strip of land north of Athens was no other than a bewildering wine-producing rock. I guess this "discovery" could've only occurred thanks to my quasi-obsessive-compulsive need to walk up and down the wine aisle at our local supermarket studying labels instead of picking vegetables for her highness, The Wife, Ph.D.

Anyhow, I've spent the past twenty minutes trying to disinter information on Evia (or Euboea) and its wines and, unfortunately, I've come up (almost) as empty-handed as Olympique Lyonnais the crisp night of March 7th. Here's a brief excerpt on Central Greece from Greekwinemakers.com:

"Central Greece is the traditional stronghold of retsina and plantings are dominated by the Savatianó variety, from which retsina has been most commonly vinified. Savatiano accounts for most of the production in Attika (roughly 90%), a majority in Evia (around 75%) and half of production in Voetia. The Savatianó, historically, was never the exclusive basis for retsina, and until phyloxera arrived in central Greece between the first and second World Wars, was just one of a number of white varieties grown in the region. Today, the Savatianó owes its dominance less to historical preeminance [sic] than to the need to replenish vineyards with a highly productive variety suitable to the climate. Although the grape is characterized by low acidity, it at least has had the advantage of displaying some varietal character when resinated. Low yield farming and modern vinification have resulted in quality un-resinated mono-varietal versions of Savatianó that display the best attributes of the grape."

More specific to the actual island, New Wines of Greece, a portal designed to market indigenous Greek varieties in the US, notes that:

2009 Vriniotis Winery IAMA

"...[u]p until 10 years ago, all that was known of winegrowing [sic] activities in Evia regarded the traditional production methods in the central and southern part of the island. Nevertheless, the particularly successful entrance of northern Evia in the game through cultivation of numerous Greek and international varieties as well as through production of many new wines, created the need for the establishment of a PGI Evia zone. The presence of the native varieties of Vrathiano and Karabraimis is noteworthy as is the Aegean influence (Aidani White, Athiri, Assyrtiko, Liatiko and Mandilaria) due to Evia’s geographical position. At present there are only four area wineries producing PGI Evia wines but their numbers are expected to increase."

"Discovery" made, I updated the blog's approved list of rocks and celebrated accordingly.

2009 Vriniotis Winery IAMA (Syrah and Vradiano blend) - Nice bouquet marked by red fruit, dark chocolate, vanilla and a hint of oak. Raspberries on the palate with great length, firm tannins and a fantastic tart fruit finish. Its awesome acidity had The Wife, Ph.D., and I puckering our lips like babies sucking on lime wedges. 90/100.