I don't showcase a lot of Greek wine because I don't have a lot of Greek wine in the cellar, but after tonight's bottle I have to ask myself why? I just finished putting together a blog entry for Ottawa Life, that will appear in September, about a tasting of Greek wines I did back in May. I was then looking through the earlier part of my wine cellar (organized by year) and found this 2000 Agiorgitiko and thought it would be appropriate to open that up for dinner. Funny thing is I used to drink quite a bit of Greek wine, one of my early favourite reds was a light bodied easy drinker from the Aegean Islands.
I have learned over my time of drinking and writing about wine that I am not always going to get those fresh fruit flavours just because I open a fresh bottle of wine. Wine ages, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, but when you open a ten year old bottle you're definitely gonna get something interesting. Which brings me to this bottle: It's old, but it's definitely still quite drinkable with dried fruit mixed with cedary-oak notes (more wooden than fruity) with hints of acid and spice. It seemed to go pretty well with the goat cheese stuffed chicken breast I made. I'm surprised at how well it stood the test of time ... about 20 minutes into the drinking I noticed a bit of that foresty floor aroma and taste, but not in a rotten way, more in a character nuanced way ... I must admit I was shocked, amazed and surprised that the wine was still as alive as it was.
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