In wich I, once again, take one for the team:
- Kamara Retsina Traditional Apellation (12%; www.KamaraWinery.com; T.ElentenyImports) KamaraWnry/Oreokastro/Thessaloniki NV (2016): Med.yellow color; rather piney/pine sap/spicy/new wallpaper/resiny some mineral/stony/grapey somewhat refreshing nose; quite tart/tangy some mineral/stony/grapey/austere some piney/pine sap/resiny rather clean/refreshing flavor; med.long somewhat piney/pine sap/resiny fairly tart/tangy light mineral/stony/grapey somewhat refreshing finish; not a thrilling wine to taste but I can see where it would have a place at table; best Retsina I’ve had…ever!! $12.00/500ml (AV)
A wee BloodyPulpit:
- EricAsimov wrote back in Jan on the new wave of Greek Retsina:
Asimov/Retsina ,
so when I saw one on the shelf at ArroyoVino…I thought…what the heck.
When I was first learning about wine, Greek Retsina was one of the iconic wines in my expanding wine Universe. I tried one and it came across as one (small) step above drinking turpentine. Never again did I try one, even when eating at NewOrleans finest Greek restaurant where it could be had by the glass.
It’s no secret that the quality of Greek wines has been ratcheted up over the last 10 yrs or so. No reason that Retsina shouldn’t be part of that groundswell.
This wine was far & above the turpentine Retsina I recall from my callow youth. It actually brought back some fond memories of my childhood. My Dad would often go down in the EastBottoms of KC to Sutherland Lumber Company to get lumber for his myriad woodworking/construction projects around home. He would hook up the trailer and I would get to ride in the back of it (try getting away with that in these days!!) down to Sutherland. Loved the smell of all that new lumber. We would stack it up with a bunch of 2x4’s that I would help load. Invariably, there would be this sticky pine sap that I’d get all over my hands. This Retsina smelled exactly of that pine sap long ago.
Obviously, this Retsina was greatly influenced by the pine sap added…though not dominated by it…there were some wine things in there as well. But it was not too unlike the resiny/phenolic character you often get skin-contact whites. I can see where there would be a place at the table for this wine given an appropriate food…like a chunk of great tofu steamed in turpentine!!
Tom