Domaine Gerovassiliou Malagousia 2006 (definitely not retsina)

Yes, I'm aware of the poor reputation that Greek wines receive, but that's mainly because most people know Greek wine through retsina, which is wine flavoured by pine resin. It's an acquired taste apparently. Greek wine without pine resin should have some interesting qualities - after all, it's grown in perfect climates on good soil. And there are indigenous Greek grape varieties, some of which must be of interest to oenologists.

At Texture the other day, the sommelier recommended a Greek wine as "light and very refreshing". That in itself was interesting - judging from various sources of information, Greek white wine is fairly robust and chunky, going well with grilled fish and grilled lamb. There must be a lot of fruit flavour in it, which wouldn't put it in the light and refreshing category, in my opinion. As it was, my opinion turned out to be wrong. Which is great when it comes to wine and food - even more than variety, pleasant surprises are the spice of life.

Domaine Gerovassiliou Malagousia 2006
White wine
Greek (Epanomi, Macedonia)
Malagousia grape

Nose: Quite fruity - pear and mango, mainly. Floral fennel, if that makes sense. Wet stones. Should be a kick in the nose, but there's plenty of jasmine that binds it all together and makes it seem very airy.
Mouthfeel: Light and crisp. This is a gulping wine.
Tasting: First sip was heavy and flat. Swirled it around to aerate it - wow, it really makes a difference. Light fresh rose flavours. Lemon, thyme, lemon thyme and lemongrass. More jasmine. Like tasting a cloud.

It really was light, despite the fruity aromas in the nose. Surprisingly, they didn't appear in the tasting. I found myself chugging down big mouthfuls of this wine throughout the meal, and the jasmine really went well with my lamb. Very, very happy with this. (Yes, I know, I didn't say anything about the finish. Well, I can't really taste wine finishes that well any more - maybe it's all the whisky I've been drinking. But then, finishes aren't really the big deal with wine...)

The winemaker, Domaine Gerovassiliou (adjacent image taken from greekwinemakers.com), is the brainchild of Evangelos Gerovassiliou, who used to be chief oenologist for Chateau Carras, a large Greek wine venture. He then branched out on his own, experimenting with Greek (Assyrtiko and Malagousia) and French (Syrah, Merlot and Viognier) cultivars on his own property in the 1980s. At that point, Malagousia was nearly extinct, and he became the first winemaker to cultivate it for wine-making in its native habitat near Thessaloniki, Macedonia.

Domaine Gerovassiliou now has about 45 hectares under cultivation. They specialise in white wines, now cultivating Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay in addition to the grape varieties mentioned earlier. There are two red wines, one a blend of Syrah, Merlot and Grenache, the other a blend of Limnio, Mavroudi and Mavrotragano, all indigenous Greek varieties. Malagousia 2006 (or indeed any other vintage of Malagousia) is not listed among the award winners on the vineyard's website, so the other wines must be even more enjoyable.