Twice at the Top 10 wines of 2020 of The Buyer for Clos Stegasta Asyrtiko Rare 2017

David Kermode and Peter Dean selected Clos Stegasta Asyrtiko Rare 2017 to be included in their Top 10 wines of 2020 for The Buyer, the world’s leading and most influential digital content platform for the drinks industry, specialising in the premium on-trade.

David Kermode describes:

“If Fred Flintstone had kept a vineyard, it would almost certainly resemble the home of T Oinos, high on windswept Tinos, to which I holidayed in August and where, according to Greek mythology, a giant with a temper to rival Donald Trump threw an epic tantrum that resulted in boulders being strewn across the island.

Clos Stegasta 2017 Assyrtiko ‘Rare’, T Oinos (imported by Berkmann Wine Cellars) from select plots amidst the granite stones, combines the invigorating zip of lime and green apple with the sea-dog-salinity that could only come from a Cycladic Assyrtiko. The fruit is plump, but there’s pointed tension and a lovely boulder-lick of minerality supporting the savoury finish.”

and Peter Dean continuous:

“Some wines just make you go ‘Wow!’ and Clos Stegasta, Assyrtiko ‘Rare’, T Oinos, 2017 was a case in point. It’ll set you back 80 notes but this is a Grand Cru wine make no mistake. It’s a parcel selection from the sandy/ granitic soils of the Stegasta vineyard that produces the other T-Oinos Assyrtiko, but it is a marked step up. Hugely complex, reasonably weighty on the palate, but balanced by a smash of pure and precise Sicilian lemon, intense salinity, crushed-rock minerality and a length that goes on for ever. Vinified 50/50 in large barrels and amphorae, 6-7 months on the lees and a year in bottle.”