Boutari

Tracie P is the author of My Life Italian, a blog devoted to Italy, Italian food and wine, delivered with her Texas twang.

Last night, Jeremy P and I had the good fortune to try a bottle of Boutari’s 2007 Kallisti Reserve Santorini, made using the Assyrtiko grape. We are no strangers to their entry level Santorini. In fact we’ve been known to buy it by the case.

The Kallisti, however, is aged in wood and rested on its lees. This is a style of wine-making that we might normally avoid, but there is an exception to every rule and this one is it. This is a wine built for aging.

We’ve tasted older vintages (1993 and 1989) and we can attest that the acidity alone acts as a fountain of youth. The oak and batonnage, instead of being a cumbersome cover-up to the fruit, is a well-integrated and graceful brush stroke that adorns the beauty of the canvas.

When Jeremy told me what the wine of the evening would be, I decided to try a new recipe that, although Italian, seemed tailor-made for Kallisti. I suspected that a savory pie of potatoes and leeks would be just earthy and rich enough to stand up to the hardy flavors of the wine, while giving the acidity something to cling to.

Mission successful, we had a stellar pairing.

Color: light gold with honeyed hues
Nose: delicate nuttiness with a deeper hint of salt-preserved lemons.
Taste: There is a bright acidity, citrus rind, and sea-spray minerality. This trademark salinity is present in the entry-level Santorini as well, but goes deeper and finishes longer in the Kallisti.

This is a winter-worthy white, standing up to all of those warm and cozy meals to come. Root vegetables, you’ve met your match, and she’s a Greek goddess in a bottle.

—Tracie P

This entry was posted on November 16, 2010 at 2:00 pm and is filed under Assyrtiko, Kallisti, Santorini. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: 2007, Assyrtiko, Kallisti, Santorini, Tracie Parzen