Gaia Estate Red 2016
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Robert
Parker -
Wine &
Spirits
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Delivering both power and a velvety texture, this serious, fine unfiltered wine has raised the stakes in the Nemea appellation. Deep red-black in color with a complex aromatic profile, good structure and great volume. Without a doubt, under proper cellar conditions it will continue to evolve into an even more highly structured wine for at least a decade.
The complex and intense flavors of the full-bodied wine make it an ideal pairing for game and spicy meat dishes.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Agiorgitiko Gai'a Estate was aged for 18 to 20 months in 90% new French oak. It comes in at 14.5% alcohol. It's always good to check in with some of the ones I loved after they have more time in the bottle. Suffice it to say, this ripe Nemea is still pretty gorgeous, although its ceiling is a little clearer today. It is firm on the finish, shows off some freshness and pulls in the wood better at this point, now about 18 months more in bottle from when I originally saw it. It adds all that Agiorgitiko red fruit, mostly strawberries and some hints of dry cherries, to go with a little vanilla from the new wood. It finishes with plenty of grip on that finish. It starts slowly, but it adds a fair share of intensity soon enough, a real backbone. The next day, it is vibrant, gripping and fresh. Best After 2022.
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Wine & Spirits
Yiannis Paraskevopoulos grows this wine in the cool heights of Nemea, where the grapes ripen more slowly than on the flats of the appellation. His 2016 captures that coolness in its herbal notes and gripping tannins, a berryfilled agiorgitiko in search of a well-marbled steak.
Native the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece, Agioritiko is the star variety here and in fact, the only one permitted to carry the Nemea appellation. While it favors the hot Mediterranean climate of Greece, it performs best in Nemea’s high altitude mountain vineyards between 1,350 to 2,000 feet where fully ripe grapes can also achieve great acidity and structure. Somm Secret—As one of Greece's oldest varieties, wines made from Agioritiko were historically often associated with the half-god Heracules and referred to as the "Blood of Heracles.”
Home of Greece’s famous and praise-worthy red variety, Agiorgitiko, Nemea is part of the Peloponnese.