SANTO WINES | Mavrotragano | 2018
mavrotragano

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Today we are going to review a wine that is a rarity even in its homeland in Greece – Mavrotragano 2018 by SantoWines. This is a single-varietal mavrotragano wine from the Aegean Islands, more exactly from Santorini’s Cyclades PGI. Mavrotragano is a rare indigenous greek variety that until recently, with its black (‘mavro‘) and crisp (‘tragano‘) berries, was used mostly in Santorini’s sweet blends and had become almost extinct. Today, it is one of the highly-touted red greek varieties, as it combines the unique volcanic terroir with the power and finesse of a bold and tannic red wine. Mavrotragano shows promise of being as unique as the land that has given it birth: an outstanding variety with the potential of offering one-of-a-kind experiences capable of overturning the habitual wine routine of each and every wine explorer, producing wines with great ageing potential. This particular wine is made of mavrotragano grapes that are sourced from high-altitude (up to 400m) volcanic soils of Santorini. It has been aged for 12 months in medium toasted french oak barrels and produced in a limited edition of only 5000 bottles. But enough of all that theory – that said and without further ado, let’s take a look at the wine tasting results.
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

//Visual
colour: medium ruby
clarity: hazy purple shades

//Olfactory
intensity: clean & delicate
fruit profile: red fruits | black fruits | blue fruits
__red fruits: sour cherry | red currant | cranberry
__black fruits: aronia berry
__blue fruits: blue plum | blueberry
fruit character: ripe & underripe

//Flavor
non fruit: spice | oak | savory | earthy | other
__spice: red pepper
__savory:iron | veal | leather| hints of barnyard & horse saddle
__earthy: compost | turf | granite
__other: sweet potato | beetroot| subtle hints of violets & truffles
__wood: new / medium roast

//Palate
sweetness: bone dry
acidity: high
alcohol: high
tannin: med(+)
__grip: rough
balance: good
__dominant: alcohol & acidity
body: coarse | medium+

//Taste
fruit profile: red fruits & black fruits
fruit character: ripe
non fruit: spice & oak
finish: medium+
aftertaste: seedy-crisp

//Scoring
SANTO WINES | Mavrotragano | 2018
variety: mavrotragano
country: Greece
region: Cyclades
rating: 92.5

//Conclusion
maturity: youthfull | age for at least 3-4 years
verdict: great | a must try
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This is definitely a great wine of Greece and, with a total of 92.5 points scored, this wine is right there, among the best wines we’ve rated so far. Check our complete database on the wine rating page, where you can find all the wines that we have tasted and reviewed or go to the about us page and find out more about our exquisite rating system.

Verdict: this is a fine and at the same time delicate wine – fruity-savory, coarse and rustic – a wine that is still too youthful at this stage, as it has yet to reach the summit of its prime form, thus one that requires at least 3 or 4 more years of bottle ageing. It feels delicate and grippy, with bitter-seedy tannins, overwhelming acidity and a touch of alcoholic warmth on the palate. This is a wine that does not lack neither character nor structure, as it tastes pleasantly green and slightly austere, with a fruity-savory accent on the nose and some subtle meaty-leathery hints in the background – a wine that has both, its own distinctive personality (with coarse and grippy tannins) and the footprint of the Cyclades terroir, with those mesmerizing earthy-savory notes of leather, granite, turf, compost and some subtle hints of black truffles and violets.
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