Diamantakis Winery – Diamantopetra White 2025

The Diamantopetra white is Diamantakis's barrel-aged white, a blend of 50 percent Vidiano and 50 percent Assyrtiko, bottled as PGI Crete. The name translates roughly as "diamond stone." The red Diamantopetra is the older of the two. The first white vintage was 2014, released in 2015. The family estate was founded in 2007 by the brothers Zacharias, Ioannis and Michalis Diamantakis. It lies near the monastery of Agios Georgios Gorgolainis. Today they farm 15 hectares across 30 parcels. Zacharias studied oenology in Athens and is responsible for the cellar. According to the family, Diamantakis first trialled the Assyrtiko in 2010 on a small terrace. From this came the Assyrtiko portion of this blend and the single-varietal Petali Assyrtiko.

The grapes come from the Koumi and Spartias sites near Kato Asites in the regional unit of Heraklion. They sit at 400 to 670 metres, face northeast and stand on calcareous, clay-rich soils with limestone, under the influence of the sea winds from the Aegean. The vines were planted in 2006 and 2010. According to the data sheet, yields are 7.5 tonnes per hectare. Both varieties are vinified separately. Fermentation at 15 to 17 degrees begins in stainless steel and finishes in oak barrels. The wine is aged three months on its fine lees, with bâtonnage. The wood is 80 percent French and 20 percent American oak, half of it new. 20,000 bottles were filled of the 2025, declared at 13.5 percent alcohol. According to the data sheet, the wine has 6.4 g/l total acidity at pH 3.33. In the 2024 vintage it was 6.0 g/l, in the 2023 vintage 7.05 g/l.

I tasted the 2025 in October 2026 in a white wine flight of Vidiano and Assyrtiko featuring eight wines. There it sat in fifth place, between the two varietal wines from the same house, the single-varietal Diamantakis Vidiano 2025 and the Petali Assyrtiko 2025. We had all three in the glass side by side, and deliberately so. Years ago this wine puzzled us, because it showed more acidity than the pure Assyrtiko. At a tasting in 2023 the blend came out clearly on top in the scoring. The Diamantopetra 2021 received 93 points, the Petali Assyrtiko 2021 90 and the Vidiano 2021 87. I noted the Diamantopetra 2021 at around two years of age, at 13.0 percent alcohol. It had an elegant nose and a balanced acid structure, the restrained oak ageing perfectly integrated. At the time I wrote of a magnificent Cretan white. The 2025 was a good year old at the tasting. Julia Harding MW tasted it in August 2026 for JancisRobinson.com and describes a spicy, cedary oak signature. Andreas N. Androulidakis described it in October 2026 at Cantina (Protothema) with a dense texture, pronounced acidity and a long finish.

The blend in the middle cannot be fully compared with the two varietal wines, because its wood allows it to even things out somewhat. In truth, though, one gets the feeling that the wood has to work rather hard. A demanding wine. Even on the nose the wood is quite present, with a good deal of vanilla and alongside it a few exotic aromas. With half new barrels and a fifth American oak, the vanilla may come as no surprise. On the attack the wine is then very present. On the finish, however, it is a touch disappointing, too straightforwardly tailored to the wood.

The roles of the varieties were reversed that evening. The single-varietal Vidiano was the wild one. It had a yeasty nose, on the finish the typical chalkiness, apricot and a rock-hard acidity. It was too angular for me and sat at 90 points. The Petali Assyrtiko was the tame one. It was soft, with banana and honey and seemingly less acidity, the most drinkable of the wines, and sat at 91 points. The blend does not have as much drive as the Assyrtiko and is not of the same brute force as the Vidiano. On the finish, too, it is no match for the Vidiano. That is why for me it only reaches 90 points.

With that, the relationship compared with the 2023 tasting has been reversed. Back then the blend was three points ahead of the Assyrtiko. Now it sits one point behind and level with the Vidiano, which costs considerably less in Greece. That wood can work differently in a white was shown in the same flight by the Kir-Yianni Single Block Tarsanas 2023. There it was fantastically integrated, and I had it at 93 points. The Diamantopetra is well made nonetheless, really well made. It is without question superior to the red Diamantopetra (2021, 89 points). It costs around 18 euros in Greece. In character, though, it is an in-between piece caught between the house's tame Assyrtiko and wild Vidiano, and has thus somehow fallen by the wayside. For me that is 90 points.