Nemea Winery — Nemea 2019

As part of a direct comparison between a classic Nemea and an Agiorgitiko from further afield, this wine from the Nemea Winery's Signature Collection was opened – a producer with 35 full-time employees that, so far, has no distribution in Germany whatsoever. The 2019 Nemea is immediately likeable: a wonderfully lively, vibrant fruit profile that makes you forget every international grape variety on the spot. Raspberry dominates on the palate, but combined with the very good interplay (2.5 g/l total acidity, 5.75 g/l residual sugar), one also thinks of redcurrant and especially cranberry. The tannins are still ever so slightly demanding, but not bothersome. Once again it becomes clear: Nemea delivers serious drinking pleasure at a genuinely high level. Agiorgitiko may not typically come with endless layers of complexity and interlocking aromatics, but it's stimulating and appealing enough to carry you through an entire meal right down to the dry bottom of the bottle. At under €10, the fully deserved excellent 90 points signal a truly outstanding price-to-quality ratio. When re-tasted three days after opening, however, it became apparent that Agiorgitiko loses its charm relatively quickly – the concentrated fruit turns somewhat pungent and condenses into an almost perfumed base note. Under normal circumstances this isn't an issue, because these wines are so delicious they get emptied long before that happens.