1999 Archanes (Αρχανες)

This falls under the "oh my, what a nice surprise" category for me. I picked up a bottle at the Inka supermarket this evening to go with my leftover chicken and pasta in red sauce from last night (the recipe was the one I got from Koula's cooking class). I did so not because I knew anything about the producer, but because I was in the mood to try something different, because I enjoy Kostifali/Mandilaria blends, because it is an appellation of origin Greek wine and I don't see many of those on the shelves here that often, and because the price was right (around 8 1/2 euros).

I didn't even taken note of the year on the bottle (it was in very fine print) until I poured it into the glass and noticed the orange-ish hue (see picture and please excuse the background...the light in my bathroom is the only light that is remotely appropriate for evaluating wine appearance, and the toilet seat provided the white back-drop:-/). A sniff confirmed that this wasn't a young wine, lots of tertiary aromas coming through - smoke, iron and game at first, leather and hints of coffee, dried leaves and anise later. I think what really turned me on about this wine though was the palate - unexpectedly full of lush red fruit that coats the mouth and carries on right through to the aftertaste. The tannins are mild but definitely present, as is the acidity.

I really wish there was someone here with whom to share this. As it stands, I'll drink half tonight, the other half tomorrow, and go back to Inka to buy the rest of their stock with the hopes of bringing at least one bottle back to the US with me:-D

More info about the wine and where it comes from here: http://greekwinemakers.com/czone/winemakers/Co-op_Arhanes.shtml