Gai'a - Assyrtiko Wild Ferment Santorini 2021
At the forefront of Greek winemaking, Gai’a Wines creates a captivating range of wines that fuse age-old viticultural practices and production methods with groundbreaking innovations.
The grapes for this unique Assyrtiko come from the high-quality Pyrgos vineyard. Known for its pronounced aromatic character Pyrgos stands out relative to other vineyards on Santorini for this character. The vineyard is blessed with ungrafted, very old vines up to 80 years old.
After harvest and 12-hours of skin contact, the grape must moves to 1,000-liter tanks, as well as new 225-liter French, American oak, and acacia barrels. At this juncture, modern technology yields to the traditions of winemaking. Prevailing wild yeast strains take the reins, ultimately helping shape the wine's unique character. Each tank and barrel contribute something different and adds complexity. Following fermentation's completion, only those tanks and barrels that elevate the wine are selected.
A notable trait of this Assyrtiko is its red-wine-like behavior. What we're talking about is a capacity to age and even the need for decanting! Try this one after at least 30 minutes in a decanter enjoying for optimal enjoyment.
Wine Advocate: 93 Points
The 2021 Assyrtiko Wild Ferment, always unusual with a mixture of stainless steel, acacia, French and American barrels, comes in at 13.7% alcohol. When last seen, this was good, but it left me with my typical mixed feelings. I haven't always been sold on this bottling with the unusual flavor profile that often develops thanks to the varying vessels for aging, but this now seems to be a terrific vintage for it. It seems to be improving. The extra year of bottle age has helped it settle down and show its stuff. It is powerful and structured, reasonably deep and sensually textured. It integrates its parts well and nothing is too jarring. The long and gripping finish is impressive. It is also unusually pure, thanks to the settle-down time. I'm not sure I've liked one more (and yes, I have had some with some settle-down time). This is a year when this competes well with Thalassitis (reviewed in this report), even considering my personal biases in favor of the Thalassitis. We'll see which ages better, but this is also likely to hold well, perhaps better than indicated. Like Thalassitis, it could use a little more bottle aging, as this Wild Ferment might not be done improving. The Wild Ferment does seem a bit more approachable, though, a little more developed. We'll see which brand does better as time goes on. This has a shot at being the winner, but I'd still lean to Thalassitis. (MS)