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THALASSITIS
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1.“…….by a sea flower……” (Dioscourides 5,76)
In Greek Antiquity, mixing (“krasis” in ancient Greek) wine with sea water was a very well-known practice applied to give wine therapeutic properties. The wine resulting from this process was called “Thalassitis inos” (Sea – originated Wine).
Without mixing our wine with wine sea water, we believe that the proximity of Santorini’s vineyards with the Aegean Sea is one –perhaps, the most important among factors which forms the specific tasty characteristics of this wine.
2. “Ai – Yiorgis o Thalassitis” (Saint George The Seaside Dweller). It is a small chapel located on the area of Exomytis in the Santorini Island.
THALASSITIS
Like Botticelli’s Venus, Santorini Island with its Assyrtiko grapes, rises from the sea and gives birth to THALASSITIS, a dry white wine of a remarkable character.
Assyrtiko is perhaps the only Mediterranean variety of grape to flourish under such difficult climatic conditions. From poor, porous soil formed by volcanic activity and composed largely of pumice, we harvest fully mature grapes with a relatively high acidity. Our vineyard, located on the Southeastern slopes of Episkopi is composed entirely of 70-80 year old, ungrafted vines with a dramatically low yield.
THALASSITIS is a bone-dry wine with a delicate honeysuckle aroma and a crisp finish… a white wine of a strong personality.
THALASSITIS was first released in 1994 in a limited vintage, but the continuously great demand of the wine-loving public increased steadily the production of this unique wine to higher levels.
Technical points upon the vinification process of Thalassitis wine :
- Selected grapes are destemed and crushed,
- Only free-run must (from 0 to 0,2 bars) is retained for Thalassitis,
- Must clarificatiion by gravity at the level of 100-200 NTU (approx.12h at 15°C),
- Must inoculation by selected strains of dry active yeast,
- Fermentation (approx. 30 days at 16 °C),
- After fermentation wines are stored under N2/CO2 atmosphere,
- Young wines are clarified only by bentonite,
- Wine transvasation is limited to minimum necessary in order to preserve natural CO2,
- Tartar precipitation is controlled by cool stabilization (-4 °C),
- Bottling is secured through 0,45 µm membrane filters.
Analytical Standards :
|
Alcohol
(% vol) |
Acidity
in Tartaric acid (gr/lit) |
PH |
Thalassitis ’03 |
13,0 |
6,8 |
2,80 |
BOTTLE OF THE WEEK
Why couldn’t I have found Gaia Thalassitis,
Santorini, 1998 on
my Greek holiday last year?
Mouthwateringly fresh with gentle, appley
fruit and a firm, crisp finish, this is
the kind of wine that invites you to have another
mouthful of some light, summery food, then another sip,
and another, until you wonder where it’s gone.
It’s a warm climate Chablis with a bit of Greek mystery
and a lot os style- helped along by a tall, heavy bottle
and an all Hellenic label. Gaia is apparently pronounced
yeah-ha, by the way-not guy-ha, Piedmont’s Titan Gaja can relax.
(Dunnes Stores, 4.99 pounds) has juicy pineapple
fruit character and all the zing you could wish for, at a bargain price.
By Mary Dowey IRISH TIMES MAY 2000
Gaia Thalassitis 2002 Santorini, Greece
Santorini is a great holiday destination, but for wines?
Yiannis Paraskevopoulos of Gaia Estate (based in the
Peloponnese) is one of a number of winemakers showing that
the island’s white wines are some of the most stimulating in Europe.
Santorini’s trump card is Assyrtiko, a grape that thrives in arid conditions
and that combines the floral, mineral and citrus characters of
Riesling with the pithiness, ageability and oakability (you know
what I mean) of Semillon. Other vatieties permitted in Santorini whites are Athiri
and Aidani, but this crisp, unoaked beauty is pure Assyrtiko.
Enjoy it now for its zestly freshness, or watch it develop a richer
honeyed edge with time in bottle.
By Simon Woods WINE INTERNATIONAL OCTOBER 2003
Great Greek Wines
“Thalassitis 1995 (Gaia Wines S.A.) Winemaker Yannis Paraskevopoulos aims to make limited quantity, hand-crafted wines of world-class potential with a minerally, lasting finish. The finesse and polish of this style, despite 12,8 degrees of alcohol and 7 grams of acidity, make it almost desirable wine”.
By Steven Spurrier, May 1997
Gaia Thalassitis, made from lemon crisp Assyrtiko grapes coerced out of the island of Santorini’s black volcanic soil, is an extremely serious wine sort of Pouilly Furne of the Cyclades that is still underpriced.
By Jancis Robinson 22-23/07/2000 Financial Times
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