Four Bottles of Boutari and a Stubborn Cork

In October 2026, four red wines from Boutari stood before me, two pairs spanning the decades. The Grande Reserve Naoussa 2013 and 1993, both single-varietal Xinomavro, twenty years apart. And the Cava Boutari 2020 and 1976, 44 years apart and, on top of that, from two eras of the blend, of which more later. I bought the two young wines in the shops, the two old ones at auction. I work from new to old, with the comparison appearing under the older wine in each case.

Cava Boutari 2020

The **Cava Boutari 2020** carries a designation that in Greece is not a statement of style but traditionally stands for a matured wine. At Boutari, the Cava ranks one step below the Grande Reserve. According to the retailer, the 2020 contains Xinomavro, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah; the exact proportions for this vintage are not known. The international varieties also explain the classification as PGI Macedonia, since PDO Naoussa requires single-varietal Xinomavro. The wine comes in at 13.5% alcohol and was matured in oak.

The line has history. Dimitris Koumanis traced it in 2019 for Heteroclito: begun in the early 1970s with Xinomavro and Agiorgitiko, with Mandilaria added in 1986, Cabernet Sauvignon in 1992 and Syrah in 2000. In the 1980s, up to 600,000 bottles were filled, with an important role for the Greek diaspora. I have found no critic's score for the 2020, so expectations rest on the line and on the year. 2020 was above average in Greece overall; I rate the year 8 out of 10, well above the median of 6.5 for the years 2000 to 2025. Koumanis awarded no points in his Cava vertical from 1976 to 2013, but credited the 1990 with structure and complexity and the 2012 with potential.

In the glass, then: on the nose some sour cherry, a little cocoa. On the palate decent acidity, plus olive and a rather bitter finish. It does not quite come together harmoniously, but there is a fair variety on offer. For me that is 86 points, fair value at around 12 euros in Greece.

Grande Reserve Naoussa 2013

The **Grande Reserve Naoussa 2013** is no everyday wine at Boutari. It belongs to the house's premium bottlings, well above the basic Naoussa. In August 2013, under the title “The New Naoussa”, Wine & Spirits called the line the flagship of its day and stylistically defining for the appellation. In the glass: 100 per cent Xinomavro from PDO Naoussa and 12.5% alcohol. The Grande Reserve designation stands for the long maturation: 24 months in French oak and a further 24 months in bottle, four years in total, as today's requirements for this designation demand. Since 1984, Dr Yannis Voyatzis has shaped the oenology of the house founded in 1879 by Ioannis Boutaris.

Expectations stood high. 2013 was a strong red vintage in Naoussa, here too 8 out of 10. Wine & Spirits gave the 2013 94 points at the end of 2020, describing it as concentrated and taut, with ripe, barely astringent tannins. Robert K. Stephen noted 85 points on his blog Set the Bar in November 2019, considered the wine too tannin-driven and released too early, and advised waiting until at least 2024. At the Balkans International Wine Competition 2026 it received 89 points and gold. At thirteen years old, this wine should therefore have been in the middle of its drinking window.

My findings were different. On the nose quite a lot of toffee, plus some fig. On the palate decent tannin, which does indeed rather retreat behind the acidity. On entry a lovely tomato note, but then a lot of tobacco and little fruit. A wine that already seems to be past its peak. For me only 85 points, and that is too little for a wine like this. It will convince nobody of Xinomavro either. It costs around 20 euros in Greece. The Cava 2020 thus sits one point above it, at around 8 euros less in Greece. The house will surely have planned things differently.

Grande Reserve Naoussa 1993

The **Grande Reserve Naoussa 1993** is likewise single-varietal Xinomavro, with 13% alcohol, classified at the time as OPAP; today it would be PDO Naoussa. The vintage dates from before 1996, when Yiannis Boutaris left the family business and later went his own way with Kir-Yianni. It was precisely this 1993 that Boutari presented in London in February 2013 to the Circle of Wine Writers, a presentation the house organised together with Konstantinos Lazarakis MW. My bottle came from an auction.

Expectations are high, higher than for any other wine in this tasting. Mark Squires gave the 1993 92 points in the Wine Advocate in 2016; in the same session the 1990 reached 93. Simon Woolf called it an outstanding example of maturity with preserved fruit on TimAtkin.com in 2015. Richard Hemming MW described it in 2013 for JancisRobinson.com as distinctly tertiary, and Hayley Hamilton Cogill drew the comparison with a mature Barolo in D Magazine in 2012. Only Alder Yarrow remained more reserved at Vinography in 2011, with around 8 out of 10 and tannins already drying out.

In the glass it was, compared with the 2013, no longer quite so opaque and already showed slightly brownish glints. On the nose, however, still astonishingly fresh: a fair amount of undergrowth, plus some tomato and lavender, a good deal of lavender. On the palate the structure impressed every bit as much as in the 2013; the tannin is grippy and has lost nothing. Add to that a very fine interplay of acidity and sweetness, like coffee on the finish. The drying tannin that Yarrow described in 2011 was nowhere to be found in my glass, a different bottle, fifteen years later. For me that is 87 points, very remarkable after 33 years, the best wine of this tasting and at the same time my highest score for a Grande Reserve ever. The 1987 managed only 84 at the Xinomavro masterclass (in German) in 2024, with cork problems, and the 2013 stays at 85. That the twenty-years-older brother seems fresher than the younger one is the real story of this pair.

Cava Boutari 1976

The **Cava Boutari 1976** is the oldest Greek wine in my notes. Until now that place was held by the Cavino Nemea 1978, which I recorded in 2023 at 45 years old with 90 points. This bottle was around 50 years old and likewise bought at auction. When the wine was made, Giannis and Konstantinos Boutaris were running the house, which they had taken over in 1968; the winery in Stenimachos only came in 1978. The Cava line was on the market by 1974 at the latest, and that it was then the upmarket line is shown by a price comparison from that year: 90 drachmas for the Cava, 40 for the basic Boutari. Today that has reversed; the Cava sits among the house labels below Grande Reserve and 1879 Legacy. It was never a top wine made for decades of cellaring, then. The grape varieties cannot be cleanly documented for 1976; according to the early blend they are presumably Xinomavro and Agiorgitiko, at 11.5% alcohol.

For 1976 I have no Greek vintage rating, so expectations draw on the age and on someone else's tasting. Koumanis highlighted the 1976 in his 2019 vertical as one of the special vintages: astonishingly lively, a rather reserved nose, an elegantly matured palate. He had, however, aerated his bottles for around two hours and tasted them again after 24 and 48 hours, with positive development.

With my bottle, it started at the cork: no longer much to look at, considerably shrunken, and getting it out at all was an art in itself. In the glass a rather brownish colour. The nose, unlike with Koumanis, then astonishingly aromatic, a great deal of sweet fig, almost exaggeratedly expressive. On the palate, though, a rather unpleasant acidity, a pasty finish, a pasty aftertaste. A pity. For me that leaves only 70 points. The wine is a good way past its peak; it has not only just tipped over. But what more can one expect of such a wine after 50 years?

The glance across at the Cava 2020 is instructive, but calls for caution. There a decent acidity, here an unpleasant one; there a rather bitter finish, here a pasty one; there sour cherry and cocoa, here sweet figs. Between the two lie, after all, 44 years and two eras of the blend: in 1976 presumably Xinomavro with Agiorgitiko, in 2020 Xinomavro with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. Part of the difference is ageing; another part is simply a different wine.

What the Two Pairs Show

With the Grande Reserve, the 1993 holds the structure of the 2013 and adds freshness on top. At 87 points it was the best wine of the tasting, while the 2013, with plenty of tobacco and little fruit, seemed more tired than its twenty-years-older brother. With the Cava, the 1976 brings together age, a changed blend and a shrunken cork, and how much each contributes cannot be untangled from a single bottle. That the cheaper Cava 2020 ends up overtaking the Grande Reserve 2013 by one point is the small irony at the margin of this tasting.

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