Skouras St. George 2021

fresh blackberries, dried tart cherries, black licorice, milk chocolate, clove and black pepper

I listen to a lot of podcasts with one of my favorites being “I’ll Drink to That!” with Levi Dalton. One Sunday night I was listening to episode 486 which featured George Skouras, one of the early innovators of wines from Greece. In the interview George acknowledged that when he returned home to Greece in 1986 after studying winemaking in France, how little modern winemaking was actually happening. In fact there was little known about many of their grape varieties, despite hundreds, if not thousands of years of production. A good case in point is Agiorgitiko, also known as St. George, which is often hailed as the country’s best red grape variety.

It is hard to believe but even 10-15 years ago the wines made from Agiorgitiko were all over the board, stylistically and in quality too. Skouras was one of the first to recognize that the best wines come from vineyards at higher altitudes, which helps lengthen the growing season. In the case of this wine the vineyards are over 2000 feet above seas level in the heart of Nemea. The wine is then aged in 2nd pass French oak barrels for 12 months.

When you serve this wine it is imperative to decant it, not only for bouquet but also to soften the acidity and tannins. Once you do the deep color of this wine hints to the explosive nose, a combination of fresh blackberries, dried tart cherries, black licorice, milk chocolate, clove and black pepper. On the palate it is pretty dense and chewy, with a frame of tannins and acidity that temper over the bottle. Drink with braised lamb shanks, grilled tuna steaks or pastitsio.