As adventurous as our palates may be, we all have wines which we consider our favourites. Certain grapes or regions call out to us from their place on the shelf, pleading with us to put down the new and embrace the comfortable. Sure, that biodynamic, low-intervention Pét-Nat made behind a bike shed in Bulgaria just might become your new favourite bottle, but there’s nothing like the comfort of the familiar, be it a buttered Chardonnay or a powerful Cab Sauv.
In my wine, as admittedly in other facets of my life, I confess to being a creature of habit. With that in mind, I imagine the look on my face can be pictured near-photographically when I was given a bottle for review made from Kotsifali, a Cretan grape variety totally alien to me. Nevertheless, I’m not one to turn down new experiences (especially pertaining to wine), and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found.
Image Credit: Jack Wharton
While the grape may have been a mystery to me, the reputation of the winery immediately let slip that there was some quality to be found in this bottle. Lyrarakis are stalwarts of the Greek wine industry, with a focus on producing wines which allow native Greek grapes to compete with the likes of more well-known international varieties. Kotsifali is one such variety, native to Greece’s largest island and while most commonly blended with Mandilaria, it is the goal of Lyrarakis to isolate the character of this grape and allow it to sing.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about this wine, at least for someone going in virtually blind, was the colour: a lighter, garnet sort of hue, a far cry from many of the inky, fuller wines typically associated with warmer regions such as Crete. Instead, what I found was a delicately fruity bouquet filled with sour cherries and juicy plum, complemented by a subtle baking spice aroma. Although some oak is present, there is little doubt that Lyrarakis wanted the Kotsifali variety to be the star of the show here. A pleasant level of acidity alongside soft, fine tannins makes this a great wine for drinking on its own, or indeed with charcuterie. All attributes considered, I don’t think it entirely unreasonable to describe Kotsifali as a sort of Aegean answer to Grenache, albeit with a bit of added spice.
This is not a wine that will be everyone’s cup of tea, and with a price tag of nearly £17 from the Oxford Wine Company, it’s not a cheap gamble to take. However, I’m told that stepping outside my comfort zone is good for me, and I believe this to be as much the case with wine as in any area of life. As something unusual, or for the sake of trying something new, I’d say that you can’t go too far wrong with this bottle. While there is always the risk of trying a new wine and wishing you’d have simply picked up “the usual”, it doesn’t hurt to be reminded that even “the usual” was different and daunting once.
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