Stergios and Perikles Tatsis have some of the most beautiful vineyards I’ve ever seen, tiny parcels hidden in the woods, surrounded by the sound of birds, bees, crickets and tree frogs. The brothers, who come from a long line of grape growers, have never used chemicals in their farming. Nor do they use any additives in the winery, preferring to let their wines take their time with spontaneous ferments and long aging in big, old oak barrels; at the most, the wines will get a small amount of sulfur. The hands-off approach seems like it might have been challenging in a vintage as cool and damp as 2009, and yet this wine is gorgeous. While it’s clearly old—pale and brick-hued, and initially funky, the wine gathers strength as it takes on air, turning from hints of cedar dust to moist, rich forest floor, with notes of strawberry and rhubarb juicing up. There’s nothing showy about it, and yet it lasts for days after opening, the wine as structured as it is detailed.
Dionysi Grevenitis Selections/DNS Wines, San Francisco, CA
96
Domaine Tatsis 2009 Macedonia Xinomavro
$38
Every week, our editors highlight a wine that intrigued them in our blind panel tastings, expanding on their tasting note in this space. These are entirely editorial choices; there are no paid placements. Subscribers can also access the original tasting note by searching here.
is W&S’s editor at large and covers the wines of the Mediterranean and Central and Eastern Europe for the magazine.
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This story appears in the print issue of August 2020.
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