Domaine Hatzimichalis — Merlot Alargino 2011

Domaine Hatzimichalis was among the first Greek estates to plant international varieties when Dimitris Hatzimichalis founded it in 1973 in the Atalanti Valley of Central Greece, and it was the first Greek winery to bottle Merlot as a single varietal, starting with the 1989 vintage. The Merlot Alargino comes from the "Alargino" vineyard — meaning "the furthest away" — at 320–350m elevation, with no irrigation and low yields of 3,500 kg/ha, benefiting from cool breezes flowing between Mount Parnassus and the Euboean Gulf. The 2011 vintage of the Merlot Alargino was one of the most surprising wines I've had recently. Upon opening, it displayed significant maturation with a nose full of mushrooms and underbrush. However, it improved remarkably over the following days, developing typical aromas of black olives that were not found in the Hatzimichalis Merlot Alargino 2020. By then it had become the more complex wine of the two. A magnificent surprise that earns 94 points, and it will stay there for a while.