Our blind tasting theme for this dinner was wines from Mediterranean Islands with Greece in the mix. Interesting as the varietals mix is all over the place. As usual, wines are tasted blind first then enjoyed over dinner.
2007 Domaine Vico Vin de Corse - Corsica (13.5%) A lot of fruit on the nose, a little stewed but never syrupy. Nice garrigue and olives notes as well, very Mediterranean nose. Balanced and tannic, again a lot of fruit on the palate, blue fruit and cherry, a touch plumy (2007). Even if this is a rather simple wine, it's really enjoyable. Quite Corsican as well.
2008 Boutari Kretikos Red - Greece, Crete (13%) Blend of Kotsifali and Mantilaria, indigenous from Crete. Iodine and seaweed notes. Jammy fruit on the palate with plenty of strawberry on the finish. Lacks structure and dry tannins.
2008 Azienda Agricola Cos Cerasuolo di Vittoria Classico - Sicily (13%) A lot of purity on the nose. Slightly plummy. Med body, tannic, high acidity that gives the wine plenty of energy while retaining its southern profile. Lovely floral notes, violets and cherry. A touch of licorice. Long finish. This wine really improved over the last few months.
2007 Domaine d'E Croce (Yves Leccia) Vin de Pays de l'Île de Beauté Cuvée YL - Corsica (13%) Has a Provencal nose with garrigue notes and green olives. A lot of fruit. Maybe a touch of heat. Full body with lowish acidity, firm tannins, it manages to stay balanced. Some licorice as well. Needs time. 80 % grenache and 20 % Niellucciu, grown on schist soils.
2006 Olympus Hellas Agiorgitiko Haggipavlu - Greece, Peloponnisos, Nemea (12.5%) Super oaky right off the bat. Lactic nose. I just can't go past the oak. Undrinkable to me.
2008 Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Il Quadro delle Rose Feudo di Mezzo - Sicily (14%) Surprisingly light color. Beautiful nose with earthy and olive notes. A touch of plum as well. Hint of pencil lead. Dark fruits. Good structure and needs time for the tannins to resolve. Very nice wine and it's nice to see more finesse, vintage after vintage.
2004 Planeta Merlot Sicilia IGT - Italy, Sicily (14%) The oak shows more and more as the wine is open. There's a touch of green on the nose wrapped in plenty of ripe blue fruits. Hint of raspberry on the back palate. Full body and quite tannic. Finished on sweet oak notes. Somewhat tiring to drink.
2006 Sella & Mosca Cannonau di Sardegna Riserva - Sardinia (13.5%) Funny how this wine changed. Initially I found it pretty enjoyable with some interesting tobacco notes and cherry notes. A little funky but jammy on the palate with a short finish. But on the 2nd day, the oak was all over the place...
Overall a rather disapointing tasting. Not many wines stood out with a lot of them rather uninteresting and not balanced. Maybe a proof that this is not so easy to make good wines in such hot climates but even more kudos to the people who manage to make beautiful wines all over the Mediterranean such as Occhipinti, Arena, COS, Sigalas etc....
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