A wine and a grape(Liatiko) I have never heard of but thanks to WB and specifically @Dan_Kravitz I got to try it today. Made on Crete from very old vines and apparently a very obsessive perfectionist wine maker.
We boarded a cruise in Athens I got a bottle from an Athens wine shop. Had it our room but since today was our last day, we opened it by the pool with Pizza.
Rather a mature brick red colour. Delightful complex notes of wild herbs, cherries and with a bit of floral bits. Palate is very fine and smooth and lots of fruits and spice and dried herbs. Delicious long and complex finish. It is somewhere between Nerolo Mascalese, red Burgundy and Rayas. Powerful deep but also weightless and very detailed. Impressive stuff indeed
To me, Economou has always been the Chateau Musar of Crete! Stunning, very idiosyncratic wines. Can’t say any of them has made me think of Burgundy or Etna (well, maybe Cornelissen), but I can understand the Rayas part!
Had the fortune to visit Economou last summer on Crete! It was an incredible experience all around and this particular wine was my favorite as we ordered it a few times during our vacation on Crete. I find his Assyrtiko to be excellent and complex, especially with some age.
This is the greatest wine I’ve ever had from Greece and I’ve been there almost a dozen times. Even though I’ve been to Crete on most of my Greek trips, I never had it there, discovered it in Brunswick, Maine.
I’ve only had Musar a few times, none of them as good as this, but I get Otto’s analogy.
The Brunswick restaurant has the Assyrtico as well, that’s what I will try next.
Quick Q for those of you who have had this wine - does it throw a lot of sediments? I am taking it to the Berserker Goodfellows NYC event and was wondering if I should double decant in advance.
I did not get a lot of sediment from my bottle, but I did have it standing up for 2 weeks before consumption. I would be tempted to decant it immediately prior to serving.
One more question from the peanut gallery:
Any sense where this is in its drinking window? I’ve got just one bottle in the cellar and I’d like to open it but willing to wait if it would be better a few years from now. Thanks!
Opened a bottle last night - I would say it’s good to go now. Having had only this one bottle, I can’t say for certain where it is in its trajectory but it certainly feels mature. Can’t quite put my finger on what the closest analogue would be, maybe a cross between an old Musar and an old nebbiolo? It is indeed a singular wine and without doubt heads and shoulders above any Greek red wine I’ve tried.
Noah_C: I think this wine is fully mature, but in no danger of going over the hill. I think this fall would be a perfect time to open it; it’s not winter weight and it seems a shame to drink it in the summer.
Sam_Kwak: I think your note is spot-on.
Kirk: I had this at Taverna Khione in Brunswick. I don’t think any Maine distributor carries it on a regular basis, but brings it in for Taverna owner Marc Provencher on request. I will ask Marc.
