NICO LAZARIDI | King of Hearts | 2016
merlot | xinomavro
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Tonight we are going to review a wine blend from Greece – King of Hearts 2016 from Château Nico Lazaridi. This wine is a cross between an international variety, which is merlot and the greek one, which is is being hailed as “the Barolo of Greece” – xinomavro, the later one is meant to add local terrior and typicity to the final blend. It comes from the Northern Greece wine region, which has slight climatic influences from the Mediterranean, but is more continental with colder winters, strong winds, rain, and snowfall in the mountains, but enough theory, let’s get straight to the tasting.
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:
Visual
Quite transparent ruby color, with hints of pale garnet towards the rim of the glass.
Olfactory
The nose is rich, filled mostly with savory flavours and red fruits: forest floor, sour cherry, red currant, cranberry, red plum and beetroot. An instant later comes secondary and tertiary notes of red pepper, nutmeg, cloves and some nuanced hints of turf.
Gustatory
The wine is dry, with high alcohol level, high acidity and green tannin. It feels earthy, green and seedy, with a quite nuanced acidity. This is a tart, sharp and angular wine, which is a bit off its balance, with a nice spiciness towards the end. The wine has a fair overall balance, as it feels both, savory and fruity.
Aftertaste
It has a medium finish and an balanced, seedy-green aftertaste.
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This is definitely a fine Wine of Greece and the overall rating says the same, with 89.7 points scored it is right there, among the best wines we’ve tasted so far. Please click on the chart icon on the left in order to get to the wine rating page, where you can find all the wines we’ve tasted to date.
Conclusion: this is a wine that is yet too young to drink now – tart, rough and angular – therefore a couple more years of bottle ageing will do just fine. Its green tannins and aggressive acidity makes this wine the perfect pairing partner for fat-rich and flavoured meals. Our recommendation would be to go with some greek lamb chops or a barbequed tomahawk steak, as the latter paring is simply amazing. Cheers.
WineStatistics tasting results:
NICO LAZARIDI
King of Hearts | 2016
overall rating: | 89.7 |
conclusion: fine | highly recommended
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(c) The WineStatistics ratings are based solely on our own knowledge of the world of wine and on our personal wine tastes, which may, or may not, differ from yours – the reader. There are no absolutes of right and wrong in wine appreciation.
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