Silva Daskalaki Winery — Sera 2015

The Sera from Silva Daskalaki Winery is a blend of 50% Mandilaria and 50% Cabernet Sauvignon — an unusual approach, since on Crete Mandilaria is typically blended with Kotsifali. As you'd expect given the grape varieties, the 2015 is a real tannin bomb. This wine has presumably needed every one of its years of ageing. But the payoff is that it's right in the zone now. The tannins are far from fine and probably never will be, but they don't push unpleasantly to the fore — they simply wait for hearty food to accompany them. What ultimately lifts this wine to an excellent 92 points is above all one quality: its remarkably fresh fruit. Cherry, especially cornelian cherry, is there from the very first sip. And that aromatic profile lingers and lingers in a finish that is enormously long for this price range. An impressive wine with its memorable keyhole label, though it is still surpassed by its stablemate Enstikto from the same vintage.