Drinking the 1997 Tsantali Naousa Epilegmenos Reserve
Last night we had quite a special dinner out on the town. We met up with one of my mentors in grad school, who has become a good friend over the last few years, and my old officemate and travel buddy who was in the grad program with me. We decided to visit Costas Opa, a landmark restaurant in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. Although there are a couple of Costas locations, the Fremont restaurant has been on the corner for decades, or at least for the couple of decades that I have lived in and around Seattle. It’s a fun place and a very enjoyable way to have a nice meal without emptying your bank account in the process.
Since I recently got another journal article published (with my mentor and officemate as second authors), we all wanted to celebrate a bit. So, I ordered the most expensive bottle of red wine on the Costas Opa menu: the Tsantali Naousa Epilegmenos Reserve. At $24, the bottle cost less than many of the red wines I usually buy direct from wineries! Very cool. The menu didn’t specify a vintage for the wine, but when we saw the bottle I got excited as the vintage was 1997. Now that’s a lot more interesting than 2003! I don’t get to have vintage Greek wine very often although that may change as I was certainly impressed with this particular wine.
Tsantali is one of the biggest wineries in Greece, although they have only been exporting wine since 1973. Their family winemaking heritage is lengthy and they currently produce wines from 6 main viticultural regions within Greece plus a few other places, such as Rhodes and Nemea. More information about Tsantali is available at their Web site.
The wine that we tried is quite interesting. The Naousa Reserve is aged in French oak, which I am guessing is not necessarily new since the wine is quite refined and devoid of young oak flavor and aroma. This wine clocks in at 12.5% alcohol, which is nice and light. The good people at Tsantali strongly recommend this wine with any tomato-based dish. When I tried this wine last night, my entree was baked linguini with hot Italian sausage in a tomato sauce, so this wine stood up quite well to the spice and tomato flavors. Here are my general tasting notes, which would have been more detailed but we only had those tiny white wine glasses you tend to get at small, family restaurants:
- Aroma: Cherry, blackberry, and subtle rose petals. Silky bouquet of fruit overall.
- Flavor: Very smooth and rich, lush mouthfeel; lots of blackberry and bramble flavors with some floral hints and a bit of chocolate as well. Nicely integrated tannins and mild acidity; clearly the aging has made this wine a bit more mellow and balanced.
- General impression: An unexpected treat! Very good, particularly for $24 at a restaurant. Served a bit warm but still delicious.
I continue to be impressed by the Greek wines I have had around Seattle. I am definitely a fan of the Xynonmavro grape, with its combination of Merlot elegance and Cabernet Sauvignon body. Good stuff.