2017 Hatzidakis "Skitali" Assyrtiko Santorini Greece
SKU #1508813
96 points
Wine & Spirits
When Haridimos Hatzidakis died in August 2017, he left behind a lone tank of 2016 assyrtiko that was still resting on its lees. After tasting it, the team was inspired to create Skitali. "It means ‘baton,’" says Constantina Chrisou, his widow. "It was something he’d given us, passed on." Her daughter, winemaker Stella Hatzidakis, blended this 2017 using very ripe fruit from Pirgos and a smaller contribution from Megalochori; she fermented it in stainless steel and left it on the lees for a year. At 14.5 percent alcohol, it’s a big wine, staunch and meaty in build, yet entirely charming, welcoming in its juicy pear flavors, and cheerful in its tangelo and honey notes. And amazingly, it ends clean, with a cleansing salinity. "Haridimos loved old Santorini, especially unoaked wines," Chrisou told me. While this wine is delicious now, it’s the sort of wine that would have delighted him with several more years in the cellar.
(8/2020)
K&L Notes
Skitali means baton. Passing one baton on to the next, Stella Hatzidakis took over the winemaking after her father's untimely passing in 2017. One of the great properties of Santorini, this is extended lees aged Assyrtiko.
