Ktima Gerovassiliou — Malagousia 2023

The Malagousia from Ktima Gerovassiliou has been on a bit of an up-and-down journey due to difficult weather conditions in recent years. The 2020 vintage was outstanding at 94 points, but the 2021 was quite disappointing — a heatwave forced an earlier harvest, meaning some aromatics hadn't yet fully developed, landing it at 90 points. The 2022 then bounced back as an excellent vintage, earning 92 points, a wine I enjoyed across quite a few bottles without ever getting tired of it. The 2023 Single Vineyard Malagousia sits a bit below that excellent 2022, just lacking the exciting structure of the better vintages, but aromatically it is certainly much better than the underwhelming 2021. At 91 points, it's a good wine from the man credited with saving the Malagousia variety from extinction. I paired it with Singapore noodles, which worked well enough, but a less spicy dish would likely be a better match to let the wine's aromatics shine. With the 2024 vintage on the horizon, I'm certainly looking forward to seeing how this special Greek wine appears in the glass next year.