Ben says
★ Good Wine “Light looking white with a real viscosity on the swirl. Tropical nose with a citric freshness, but more like ripe white grapefruit than zippy lemon or lime. Low acidity, perhaps a touch soapy, but overridingly fresh and fruity with lots of sweet apple, mango and bittersweet floral pops. A good example of Malagouzia but it’s young and brash about it.”
KEY POINTS
Varietal Malagouzia with 12.5% abv. Vines are over 500m above sea level on 3-7% degree aspect. 10 hours of reductive skin contact prior to cool fermentation and one month maturation in stainless steel tank.
Grown in: Valley of the Muses at the foot of Mt. Helicon, Sterea Ellada, GREECE.
Food Pairing
Anything Greek with this one, from the salty character of Feta cheese to the spiced sausage and fruity tomato notes in a classic spetsofai. Just make sure you mop it all up with lots of pitta bread.
Disclosure & Price
Tasted at the Beckford Bottle Shop annual tasting.
£20.50 Beckford Bottle Shop, Bath.
Reviewed and tasted: 5 November 2022
About the Producer
Muses Estate is the modern name, adopted in 2005, for a family winery and vineyard set up by Nikolaos Zaharias in Askri, central Greece, in 1946. Nikos, his grandson, is the current generation winemaker, alongside his siblings Stelios and Panayiotis, bringing together a youthful approach and new scientific knowledge to achieve a cleaner, more terroir-driven philosophy of winemaking. Their vineyard estate is on the slopes of the Valley of the Muses at the foot of Mount Helicon and benefit from the fertility and proximity of the Permisos River. All the grapes are hand-harvested.
