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The Melitzanis Brothers
The Melitzanis own a small, but highly regarded, hillside vineyard in Gastra. Annual production is roughly 30,000 bottles. Although their label includes a retsina and a Roditis, Naousa Xynómavro is their stock-in-trade. In this dangerous appellation, where vintage and variety are prone to disconnect, Antonis Melitzanis is a reversionary voice, a man, who if he had his druthers, would remove oak entirely from the process of vinifying Xynómvaro. His argument, which attacks a pernicious problem associated with the variety, makes great sense to those of us aware of a seeming chemical incompatibility between oak and the variety. It is hard to argue that oak and Xynómavro simply don't belong together, no matter what advantages oak aging may provide. Contact with the wood can result in two conspicuous reactions: discoloration and a bitterness that is characteristic neither of the grape when it is vinified in stainless steel, nor of other wines that are aged in similar barrels. The effect occurs least in ripe, concentrated must that is then aged in older barrels. For many local winemakers, the variability of vintages is difficult enough. For Melitzanis, the use of oak is simply inviting further problems.
It is our sincere hope that some portion of the Meltzanis' future will be devoted to experimenting with traditional barrels. Although Naousa is a major force in the native Greek market, it wines continually stymie foreign palates, causing international attention to focus on Greek regions that produce more consistent and familiar wines. While Xynómavro may always be a more challenging variety for the international community, it's legitimacy has been undermined by faulty assumptions at the root of the region's appellation designation. While great success has been achieved via amelioration of Xynómavro with stabilizing, complementary varieties, such as Merlot, producers such as Melitzanis, who have stuck with an exclusively mono-varietal approach, may yet unlock the international potential of the variety. Antonis allowed us a taste of aged, unoaked Xynómavro, a wine he described as capturing the traditional Naousa feel. A raw, but rich and organic wine, its flavor whetted our appetite for the results of a focused effort at modern vinification with aging in chestnut or walnut. A wine such as this might be the best of both worlds: a window into the past and a fashionable style of the future. It should not be assumed that current production of Xynómavro by Melitzanis (or by any other Naousan producer) is somehow inferior. By any reasonable standard, Melitzanis Naousa is well within the range of enjoyment of the serious wine drinker. As in wine regions all over the globe, it is only that the highest competitive standard cannot be said to have been met. The same has been said of red burgundy. It is true that in comparison with many of his local peers, Melitzanis is bit of typicist. He has another issue with oak, namely, "it robs wine of its distinction in comparison with other wines." At the heart of this assertion is the assumption that a wine has distinction to begin with. In the case of Meltzanis' wine, this happens to be true. While the Melitzanis reds are their only true estate wines, the Roditis and Retsina still carry the label, are interesting and therefore deserve inclusion. The wines: Retsina Normally we don't review retsina, but we like this one. This is a super-light version that has earthy, but real, wine aromas. The resin appears, as it should, as a natural aftertaste. Because its aromas will survive a deep chill, this is the kind of retsina that makes a good cold aperitif.
This wine shows the softest side of Roditis, so much so the palate hungers for a bit for more structure, despite the 12% alcohol level. This is a wine of imperceptible acidity, a fact, however, that makes it all the more interesting. An intense, peachy, slightly plummy fruit aroma wafts from the glass with great intensity but is more subtle on the palate. Estate Naousa 1997 This is among the best of tradition-oriented Naousas. My notes described it as country-styled, meaning not overly processed and true to varietal type. Consistent with the current old oak philosophy, the benefits of oxidization are evident in its color, aroma and fruit. With no perceivable interference from oak, warm aromas and mature fruit dominate the nose and palate. Abundant, friendly tannins contribute to a long, spicy finish. Alcohol is at 13%, sufficiently high to insure good body and to balance the natural acidity of the grape, sufficiently moderate to preserve the subtle warmth of the fruit. Kava 1997 If I understood correctly, this wine had not been released yet at the time of our tasting. The Kava designation provides minimum aging requirements in (old) oak and in bottle. In this case, the wine had spent two years in barrel and about two years in bottle. Its orange hue reminded us of old Tempranillo, although this tendency may be even more typical of Xynómavro. This is a complex wine, its nose intensely herbaceous, its palate smoky, but less concentrated, than the Naousa. At 12.5%, the alcohol level is lower, too, allowing the acidity to stand out a little more. Although we preferred the slightly richer, fuller Naousa in some ways, we felt the Kava a superior food wine, perfect with the kind of strong flavors that characterize Makedonian meat preparations especially. With distribution by the Intervino firm, the Melitzanis Naousa has found a solid market in Greece. Son-in-law Stelios Giamaridis, who has been with the firm now for ten years, will likely play an important future role. With an uncompromising philosophy, it will be interesting to see whether the Melitzanis brothers opt for a bold revisionist turn away from oak. In the meantime, they are important keepers of the region's traditional flavor. |
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