Sigalas, Assyrtiko Athiri, Santorini

This wine is just about perfect in my estimation. It's nearly a decade old white, but it's still super fresh and vibrant. The nose is powerful, exotic, and unbelievably complex. Acidity and "minerality" are intense on the palate but offer a perfect balance with the lemon, and mango and passion fruit. It's mouth watering, and with a wild Opah fish sandwich yesterday, it was out of this world good. So I can't find a flaw with this wine, and I'm …

2009 vintage

Discovered and could not be resisted in the cellar of the excellent Oinoscent in Athens ( www.Oinoscent.com). Lightly chilled, decanted as well which definitely helped. Better not too cold. Always a joy to come across these oldies, old school classic Santorini . Very mineral, bright still and albeit evolved it still had a lot of energy. Granted not a very fresh expression but far from dull and actually quite the opposite. Age has given it good evolution on the fruit …

2009 vintage

Straw coloured, over the peak. Too mature, almost dead.

2011 vintage

Wonderful everyday white!

2009 vintage

Dark gold. Evolved nose with minerality, candied bergamot, undergrowth and wet wool. Medium+ bodied with good acidity but the fruit is fading. Past its best. Long aftertaste.

2009 vintage

Stunning golden color impresses right out of the bottle. After that it's peach pit, apple core, and a long grapefruit finish. Rich evolving flavor end to end. Excellent.

2011 vintage

very crisp, strong mineral notes, well-balanced, enjoyable

2011 vintage

Didn´t feel as old and tired as my last bottle, at a good place right now but a little too salty for me.

2009 vintage

Similar to last time except this bottle had a very high acidity and felt even more tired. About 82p today but won't score it since I think it's past prime.

2009 vintage

Salty, sea shore, mineral aromas. Grapefruit. Floral. Palate has a creamy feel to it, giving it a nice weight. Citrus fruit acidity, some spicy heat. Enjoyed this wine.

2009 vintage

Agrees with what others had said, green apples, lemon and seashells nose and green apples, zesty lemon, oily, salty, and chalky minerals on the palate. The only downside with this wine was a low acidity, maybe I kept it to long.

2009 vintage

Stones, minerals, steel and a bit of citrus on the nose. This wine is more steely than anything else. A very clean wine and I get some bitter lemon on the palate which is a nice touch. I would try this as an alternative to Pinot Grigio.

2011 vintage

Fresh aroma of lemon peel on nose. Good lemon and citrus acidity with some hint of sea salt and minerals. Simple and straight forward. Very fresh, dry, crispy and relaxing. Good to drink in hot summer.

2011 vintage

Salty, citrus, seashell aromas. Smells weighty, slightly oily. Maybe some apple. Palate has a nice density, with lovely minerality and citrus freshness. Amazing persistency. Bought this in the UK but must try and seek this out in the US.

2009 vintage

Very expressive nose but it is butchered by the crazy amount of sulfur used. Unripe pineapple with a touch of grass and lime. Similar palate. Decent acidity but here again the wine is very angular because of the sulfur.

2009 vintage

Very nice, similar to their fancier bottling, but more approachable. Lemons, mineral, pleasant bitterness and creaminess peaked on day 2 and 3. Tasty and worth trying another bottle. 88-89

2011 vintage

I like the 2010 vintage but not this year. Greatly prefer the bigger brother standard Santorini for 2011. This wine just lacked depth or any real interest.

2011 vintage

Some tropical fruit, pear, melon. Lacks acidity and length.

2011 vintage

Simple but crisp, good wine for sipping in the heat of summer or to pair with seafood or a sharp cheese. Stone and mineral on nose with a hint of lemon zest on palate.

2011 vintage

Little bite but little fruity terrific with seafood

2011 vintage

Medium straw colour at this stage. Restrained nose of sandy minerality and citrus fruit. Medium to light-bodied with vibrant acidity and noticeable saltiness but lacking in concentration. Rather short aftertaste.

2011 vintage

Smell: raw oyster, sea shell, citrus. Taste: light & crisp with notes of citrus (lime, grapefruit) & slight salty mineral. Despite being light bodied, alcohol taste is somewhat prominent.

2011 vintage

2012 Christmas-w/Pecan crusted Chicken

2011 vintage

Very dry and crisp on the medium body. Lemon, lime, and some melon flavors. Dry long finish. Wonderful acidity.

2011 vintage

Aromas of melon and stoney minerality. Very dry on the palate with solid weight, yet retaining vibrant acidity. Flavors of more melon and a little orange rind. Tart finish that rounds this out nicely. Versatile food wine.

2011 vintage

Citronskal, gröna blad, lite äpple och melon. Tydliga mineraltoner, touch av bensin/målarfärg, samt en viss sälta. Smakrikt, annorlunda, och riktigt gott!

2009 vintage

Dinner with Walter, Bun, Doo and wives (The Principal) : zesty with lots of minerals. a bit dry and gripping for my liking.

2009 vintage

still mind-bogglingly good, and continues to improve a couple of days in the fridge

2009 vintage

Mineral and lemon zest with a zingy acid. Delicious!

2009 vintage

I get cantaloupe on the nose. DRY palate, mineral, a bit of citrus/orange as it warms. More than a hint of salt water that I'm not crazy about. 86-87 pts

2011 vintage

New Wines from Greece Trade Tasting (Prospect Restaurant, San Francisco, California) : Light straw yellow color; aromatic, tart peach, apple, chalk nose; tasty, focused, slightly oily textured, tart peach, mineral, tart apple, lemon palate; with medium acidity; medium-plus finish (75% Assyrtiko, 25% Athiri; 13.9% alcohol)

2011 vintage

Mineral and chalk. Clean, crisp, and very firm. Good clarity and balance. Muscadet-like. Nice.

2009 vintage

Consistent with our previous bottle. Herbal with melon and smoke. Round, fat with some acidity. Not as mineral as last time. Always enjoyable. Interesting to notice that the blend is always less spicy, volcanic than the pure Assyrtiko.

2009 vintage

More than anything else this is a citrusy and fresh wine, but it still shows up as quite full bodied and with a well integrated nose of almonds, green herbs and melon. A craftmanship product.

2009 vintage

Really enjoying this citrussy zesty wine. Can really taste the terroir, thru the intense minerality. Quite a full slightly creamy body. Nicely rounded. Super food wine. Super value.

2009 vintage

Rich, golden, spicy, lots of acidty. Not a delicate wine at all. Floral on the nose, a mineralality under the fruit, a hint of the honeyed gold of age. This is just great.

2009 vintage

See tasting note of 30/11/2011. Lovely fresh zesty wine with great depth of fruit and character. Drank very well even at the end of a long and indulgent Xmas day.

2009 vintage

Wow! Amazing stuff. Dense citrus aromas. Real depth of fruit and richness on the palate. Creamy. Intensely mineral in a rainwater over rocks sort of way. You can really taste the volcanic rocks of Santorini. Very dry finish. Very interesting. If you've been to Santorini and enjoyed a glass of white wine there, I urge you to buy this; I'm sure it'll take you back...and do your bit for the fragile Greek economy at the same time!

2009 vintage

De la roches et de la roche. Tout en minéralité, beau potentiel de garde.

2009 vintage

Light yellow straw color with a green tinge with lemon, tart apple, anise aromas. On the palate it was creamy, and medium bodied with great structure. Fruit, acidity and minerals are very nicely balanced - with tart apple, lemon, and mineral flavors. Medium finish. Excellent!

2009 vintage

Mid lemon colour, with some slight green highlights. The nose hits you straight away, unmistakable Santorini: a melange of lemons so ripe they're about to fall off the tree & oozing juice, salt laden breezes, sunblasted mountain herbs, tart Chablis like green apples and baked rocks. Moving on to the palate this at first had a slight CO2 prickle on entry which made it very refreshing. Medium plus body and again that Santorini mix of lemons, apples, briny minerality wth …

2009 vintage

There are only two areas of Europe classified as having a hot desert climate: Santorini and another nearby small Agean island. How this comes from such a climate I don't know. Maybe the volcanic soil. I don't know, but it Rocks.

2009 vintage

Approaching its prime. Fantastic combination of fruit (green pear and citrus fruit) with flint stone and chalky minerality. The unusual fruitiness is the result of both the vintage (2009 was a late-ripenning vintage were the assyrtico grape was able to ripe slowly and uniformily) and the producer's style. Medium-bodied, crispy and generous with high acidity and a long aftertaste. Archetypical assyrtico.

2009 vintage

Similar profile than their Assyrtiko-Athiri blend. A lot of smoky minerality, volcanic like. There's a green herbal touch as well with chalk. Citrus, good acidity while maintening a certain richness on the palate. Very good.

2009 vintage

Needs some air and then shows good balance and drinkability, and some of the saline savoury typicity of santorini, but to me the Athiri adds not a lot and takes away from the lithe body, the rapier like acidity of the pure Assyrtiko wines.

2009 vintage

Drank from a 375ml brought back from Sigalas cellar door. Bright straw yellow. Lifted nose of citrus fruits, floral and hints of mineral. Good weight with citrus fruits and underlying acidity backbone. An enjoyable white with long mineral finish.

2009 vintage

Much better now than when first tasted a year ago, in the sence that, as all the wines from this estate, it has gained in regional typicity with time. Chalky minerality, grapefruit, medium bodied with noticeable saltiness and sharp acidity. Ideal to pair with raw sea-food.

2009 vintage

Mineral nose with fresh lemon. Nice herbal and mandarin notes. All in all, a refreshing nose. A little fat on the palate but still balanced thanks to its acidity. Very dry finish. Reminds me of a cross between chablis and sancerre with some weight. Very nice.

2009 vintage

Mineral, bitter. Fresh and unusall.

2009 vintage

Quite enjoyable, although a bit flat on the nose with some unusual aromas (vinyl?), the palate shows nice flavors of comice pear and guava, with a nice streak of acidiy and a rich mouthfeel. Slightly tart at rear palate and on finish, but very enjoyable overall, and a great pairing with a Tuscan pepper crusted cheese and smoked salmon. Enjoyed greatly by dinner party, exotic and tasty.

2009 vintage

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Sigalas, Assyrtiko Athiri, Santorini

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