Lafazanis Winery — Geometria Agiorgitiko 2023

Geometria is the fresh, oak-free Agiorgitiko interpretation from Lafazanis, a family estate at ancient Kleones, right at the entrance to the Nemea zone. The label nonetheless reads not PDO Nemea but PGI Peloponnese, because some of the grapes come from the hill country of Korinthia north of Nemea. The name says it all: a deliberately clearly contoured, finely drawn Agiorgitiko rather than a rustic Nemea, and the winemaking matches, with 24 hours of cold maceration, only six days of skin contact, cool fermentation at 18 °C and no barrel at all. At around €10, this is a wine that wants to run on fruit and drinkability, not on oak or muscle.

This style is one I appreciate. I remembered the 2020 at 89 points as exactly this unwooded, easy-drinking Agiorgitiko, with flint and a damp, stony freshness. And the line, if you believe others, can do more. The 2021 was the darling of 50 Great Greek Wines, named there the best Agiorgitiko and the best value red of all, and the 2024 took gold at Decanter with 95 points, praised for a chalky-mineral core, elegant structure, cocoa-like tannin and pomegranate acidity. So this is no run-of-the-mill bottling, but a range with genuine ability.

2023, however, was a crisis year in Nemea. Rain during flowering, then heavy downy mildew, heat stress, and in September the storms Daniel and Elias with torrential rain and botrytis pressure. Much had to be picked early and selectively, phenolic ripeness lagged behind, and yields collapsed. For a wine that relies on freshness and fruit rather than substance in any case, this is a thankless vintage, and that is exactly what shows.

Curious whether any of this comes through in the glass, I tasted it. The nose is still very appealing, a little blackberry, and at cool temperature a floral bouquet unfolds that would lift the wine on its own above 90 points, almost like a good, cool, floral Brouilly. On the palate, though, it simply remains too flat, with a small hint of that reductive flint I know from the line. Above all the finish is too short; only on a second pass does a touch of pepperiness follow.

Tellingly, even the high scores land precisely here. The International Wine Challenge gave the 2023 silver with 93 points and praised rose, wildflowers, cranberry and freshness — all nose and charm; nowhere is there any mention of depth, length or core, and Decanter stayed at bronze with 88. My own assessment is thus almost exactly in line.

It is a wine whose lovely idea you can smell, but whose performance on the palate pays tribute to the difficult year. The potential for more is there, if you believe the scores for the 2021 and the 2024, and I look forward to getting an all-round successful vintage into my own glass. So I award these 88 points for the idea, less for what is actually in the glass.