Diamantakis Winery – Diamantopetra Red 2021

The Diamantopetra line is the flagship of Diamantakis, the family estate founded in 2007 by the brothers Zacharias, Michalis and Ioannis Diamantakis at Kato Assites in the regional unit of Heraklion. Zacharias, trained as an oenologist in Athens, runs the cellar. The name simply means diamond stone. The red Diamantopetra is a blend of 70 percent Syrah and 30 percent Mandilaria, with 2008 the first vintage. Kato Assites lies on the edge of the PDO Dafnes, but for dry red wine that appellation requires at least 80 percent Liatiko, and there is no place for Syrah. The Diamantopetra is therefore bottled as PGI Crete. The grapes grow in the Trochala, Voros and Pefki parcels between 350 and 550 metres, with a northeasterly exposure and sea breezes from the Aegean, on calcareous, clay-dominated soils with limestone.

In the cellar the two varieties are vinified separately. After fermentation in stainless steel, the wine matures for around twelve months in wood on the lees, 80 percent in French and 20 percent in American oak, half of it new. Zacharias Diamantakis also takes a scientific interest in the barrel. He is co-author of a study published in Biosensors in 2022 that sets out to use spectroscopy and machine learning to distinguish new, once-used and twice-used oak barrels, and all the samples examined came from barrels of his own estate. The 2021 ran to 21,000 bottles, with a declared alcohol of 13 percent.

As a vintage, 2021 stands at 6.0 out of 10 on Crete, below the Cretan median of 6.5 but above the national figure of 5.5. It was a hot, dry year with warm nights, an early harvest and a smaller crop. It was above all the early-ripening group of Liatiko, Vilana and Kotsifali that suffered, while the later group with Syrah and Mandilaria came through better. A warm year of this kind would lead one to expect a soft, concentrated, Mediterranean red.

This one is not soft. The nose is extremely interesting, vegetal, with vegetables, beetroot, plus a touch of sour cherry, herbal overall. On the palate there is solid tannin, the wine is quite demanding, but shows a fine balance. The finish is rather short.

I rated the last red Diamantopetra, the 2018, at 88 points in 2023, at the same age of around five years. That was a somewhat unbalanced wine, in which smoky Syrah notes dominated the nose and vigorous acidity and tannins masked the fruit, and with only 12.5 percent alcohol it lacked some body. The 2021 is better, considerably better, and above all considerably more balanced. This is not down to the vintage, because for Crete 2021 was no stronger a vintage than 2018 – the progress lies with the wine.

Already with the 2018 I had suspected a possible upward trajectory, and outside voices show the level the line can reach. Peter Pharos gave the 2020 92 points on TimAtkin.com, Andreas Larsson awarded the 2017 91. In Greece the current vintage costs around 17 euros. For me it is 89 points.