Rating:
90
Mark Squires - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Assyrtiko is unoaked and comes in at 13% alcohol. This screw-capped Assyrtiko doesn't go for big, profound or complex, but it isn't $70 a bottle either. It's a super value in its lively style. It tastes great and it's crisp, dancing across the palate assertively. There's tension to go with the good, mineral-driven fruit. It's a youthful beauty that should hold well under screw cap. What it really needs at this point is a little more concentration. That perhaps makes it a better fresh white than an Assyrtiko per se, but those are thoughts for the future. However, what this can acquire with a couple of years of bottle aging (hopefully) is more expressiveness as the wine develops a bit. This a bit different than the 2021, but it has its own virtues. Overall, if I wasn't clear enough, I loved the fresh summer-wine feel here. It is a perfect warm-weather white.
Product Description:
"Kir-Yianni was founded in 1997 by its namesake, Yiannis Boutaris, a towering figure in Greek wine (and, until recently, mayor of Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city). Based in Naoussa, its vineyards spread from Naoussa over to Amyndeon, on the western side of Mount Vermion in Greece’s far northwest. At the time Yiannis Boutaris struck out on his own, he was leaving his family’s Boutari Wine Group (founded 1879) in order to focus on a much smaller, quality-focused personal project. Today, the Kir-Yianni team, under the direction of Stelios Boutaris, Yiannis’ son, stands as one of the great producers not just in the northwest, but in all of Greece, and a leading exponent of the increasingly prized Xinomavro variety." -Importer
Vegan.
