The Wines from Santorini sailed to New York
- Verfasser: admin
The wine producers from Santorini arrived in a sunny Manhattan on Thursday 22 March as they were to present their wine creations to American journalists, bloggers, importers, distributors, sommeliers, owners of restaurants and wine cellars and other representatives of the US wine market. The event, which was realized by the program for the promotion of European wines in Third World countries and is financed by the European Union, Greece and the companies involved, took place in the Gansevoort Park Avenue Hotel.
Santorini, which is famous for its unique beauty, is now made known on the other side of the Atlantic for its unique quality of wines and is one of America’s sommeliers’ most favorite choices.
The event began with a round table conference about Santorini’s unique vineyard and the quality characteristics of the best Greek grape variety, Assyrtiko. The panel emphasized on the friendly character of the PDO Santorini wines in terms of food and the people there had the chance to taste Santorini’s wines together with dishes specially prepared for the event.
The coordinator of the event was journalist Jordan Mackay, while the panel included the famous sommeliers Paul Grieco, owner of restaurants Hearth & Terroir wine bar, Michael Madrigale owner of Bar Boulud & Boulud Sud and Thomas Pastuzsak owner of Nomand Hotel, the enologist Athina Tsoli and the director of All About Greek Wine Sophia Perpera.
The unique wines from Santorini, which, as Mackay said, are some of the most distinctive and special white wines in the world and are produced in one of the most dry, windswept and volcanic vineyards, were tasted in three groups: still dry white without barrel aging, still dry white aged in barrel and Vinsanto. The people there had the chance to taste the latest vintage (2011), identifying their rich aroma and taste characteristics but also wines of older vintages, in an effort to highlight the possibility of aging Santorini wines. Talking about his personal passion for Santorini’s wines, Michael Madrigale, who has placed over than 20 Greek wines on his popular restaurant’s Boulud Sus list, exceeding in number those of Bordeaux, said that Santorini’s wines must be, by all means, acknowledged. In addition he felt that it was his responsibility as a sommelier to offer his clients the chance to taste them, as they have unique taste characteristics and express, in the best possible way, the land from which they come from.
Finally, the panel suggested all kinds of appetizing combinations of dishes with Vinsanto, during the tasting of Vinsanto whose vintages dated back to 1989.
After the discussion, the people there had the chance to meet the wine producers and the representatives of Santorini’s wineries, during a 4 hour tasting.
