A Xinomavro that's supposedly done in a Barolo style

<table border="0" align="right" valign="top"><tr><td><img src="http://vintages.com/media_common/bottles/1/743658.jpg" border="0" align="left"></td></tr></table>Well here is an interesting red from Greece ... we don't seem to get too many such wines in Ontario, and I for one am encouraged to see this. Stylistically at least, it sounds like a worthy wine to try out; so many of the Greek offerings at the LCBO are rock-bottom industrial swill and so I just never bother with any of them. But this one sounds worthy, really it does ...

From Vintages' site:

VAENI NAOUSSA ‘GRANDE RÉSERVE' 2000
AO Naoussa

Tasting Note: Made with the indigenous Xinomavro grape (stylistically similar to Piedmont's Nebbiolo), this version has vibrant aromas of spice, dried currant, cranberry, leather and paraffin. It is dry and assertive with good tannins still holding around the ripe fruit. It has the austerity of a fine Barolo and will reward cellar time (3-5+ years), but may also be enjoyed now with moussaka and grilled lamb. (VINTAGES panel, March 2006)

743658 (XD) 750 mL $13.95

Has anyone here had any experience with this wine?

Paul B.

I have an interesting question for you about your great love, the hybrids. I do not seem to remember you ever talking about late-harvest/dessert style wines? Also, have you ever seen or heard of a port-style wine from some of the reds varietals you so honour.
Hope all is well with mother? Thanks for making this forum so educational for many of us!

Paul
No experience, except for general disappointment in wines that claim to be similar to other wines 3 or 4 times the price - with the similarity often very tenuous. If one of the folk here said it, I'd treat it with a lot more credibility than anything written on a bottle or on a wine merchants site.
If you get it and it does turn out to be Barolo like, then please let me know!
regards
Ian

I have an interesting question for you about your great love, the hybrids. I do not seem to remember you ever talking about late-harvest/dessert style wines? Also, have you ever seen or heard of a port-style wine from some of the reds varietals you so honour.

Bob, you are right. I have to admit that I am not a fan of stickies, and that is the reason why I very rarely taste them and write about them. It's kind of like Robin and Riesling; he can appreciate it and converse about it, but it's not the wine genre that really gets him excited.

That said, as you know, Vidal is a white hybrid and our most famous hybrid in Ontario; it makes all manner of wines, from crisp, bone-dry table wines (my favourite style of Vidal) to off-dry, late-harvest and, of course, botrytized icewine. I have an icewine about once a year.

I know for a fact that there are wineries making a port-style wine out of red-hybrid varieties, but again, this is not a genre that I personally enjoy, and so I don't keep track of such wines. Sorry Bob!

And thanks for asking about my mom. Thankfully, all is well now.

Ian, I think I'll try one just to see. I know - I rarely believe anything any seller writes, for too often they are trying to just push the item with whatever fantasy sounds opportune.

I will post back once I've assessed the wine.

[Robin Garr]

There are a few similar notes in the archives, Paul, including, er, this one that you posted.

If memory serves me right, Xinomavro and Agiorgitiko are the two leading native Greek red varieties, and "Xinomavro" literally translates as "acid black." ("Agiorgitiko" is "Saint George," as I recall.)

And you know, Robin, that was the last Xinomavro that I tried!! Can't believe it's been five years already.