The pink revolution continues apace – whether driven by the surfeit of pink wine seeking a home as more and more winemakers ‘bleed’ off less deeply coloured wine to make more concentrated red or by fashion, I know not.
Here’s a particularly characterful one from Greece that is holding up amazingly well for a three year-old rosé (13 jul: which on closer examination turned out to be a two year-old rosé – slip of the finger, I'm afraid, and Oddbins are also bringing in the 2005 which may be an even safer bet for the long term). It’s admittedly quite deep coloured and seems to me to have quite a bit of dissolved carbon dioxide in it but the overall impression is hugely satisfying. This is a meaty wine to drink with food. Perfect for outdoor eating and firm enough to serve with barbequed meat too.
It’s based on those not very Greek varieties Merlot and Cabernet with the balance of acidity and fruit particularly well judged. I can’t help feeling it’s available for a few drachma, or euros I suppose now, in Athens – though on reflection, perhaps not. Fashionable Greek wines can cost a bomb in their native country. Anyway, it’s a good drink with a, hem hem, eye-catching label depicting bare breasted maidens which looks marginally more tasteful than when I last examined it. This is a very pretty, zesty wine with good persistence and indeed, drama which is also the name of the northern Greek region where it’s made.
In the UK it’s available at £8.49 from Oddbins and it also seems to have good distribution in Germany for considerably less than this. I'm so glad that Oddbins continue to hold the faith with top quality Greek wines, although their prices are never the lowest. I can’t locate a US stockist of Ktima Kosta Lazardi’s pink wine via winesearcher.com but there are lots of American stockists of the red from the same estate, or ktima, which is a promising sign.