Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/46939
PEOPLE IN WINE Good for the Greek Economy: orn in Thessaloniki in north- ern Greece, not far from the Naoussa winery founded by her Boutari Santorini pairs with tasty tapenades from Petros restaurant in Manhattan Beach, CA. great-grandfather, fifth-generation family member Christina Boutari plays an important role in the company. Although she studied organizational psychology as well as dance at the London School of Economics before joining the family business, she is now Exports Manager for the Americas and Australia. We recently met up with her in Los Angeles, where we tasted through some of the latest releases. She was in top form, just coming back from Houston's Greek Festival, where her Boutari wines sold over a thousand cases. But it's not just the Greek consumer that Boutari—and importer Terlato Wines International—is going after. "The U.S. is one of our largest markets," she reports, "but what the buyers need to know is that our wines are comparative on a level with the finest wines from Italy, France and Australia." B Boutari The Boutari Winery, founded in 1879, represents something very special to the Greek wine industry. The original winery is just outside of Naoussa. The Naoussa and its Grande Reserve coun- terpart are made from 100% Xinomavro, one of the noblest red grape varieties of Greece. Maybe some of us have trouble pro- nouncing Moschofilero, the grape indig- enous to Greece (say mosco-FIL-er-o), but taste this wine under the Boutari label and be witness to a dry blanc de gris at only 11% alcohol that is fresh, crisply textured and possesses fragrances of orange blossoms and citrus spice. In fact, the 2010 vintage is superb. Introducing us to Elios white, a blend of Moschofilero and Chardonnay, denotes a fuller-bodied wine with floral aromatics and a honeyed minerality. Juicy melon and pineapple add freshness to this un-oaked easy-drinker grown in the high-elevation mountains of the Peloponnese region in mid-south Greece. From the southern island of Santorini, pockmarked with black volcanic rocks, Boutari 2009 Assyrtiko casts a citrus blast from the glass. The volcanic, sandy soil on which this grape is grown lends a metallic mineral profile, reminiscent 56 / the tasting panel / november 201 1 Christina Boutari with a bottle of Elios white and Moschofilero. Photo taken at Petros restaurant in Manhattan Beach, CA of a Roussanne. The vines are grown in baskets, protecting the fruit from winds and high heat. From the Xinomavro grape, grown in northern Greece, considered one of the country's leading red grapes (the other being Agiorgitiko) comes Boutari 2007 Naoussa. "This was the first wine we made and the first red bottled in Greece," Boutari points out. Earthy, elegant and complex with rhubarb, spiced tomato and spearmint, with back-tones of violets. Gorgeous. "Naoussa [one of Greece's leading AOC regions] is where the family business started 130 years ago," she adds. These wines, like the contemporary dance style that Christina Boutari per- forms, demonstrate grace and power—and by some standards, a wealth of emotion. —Meridith May PHOTO: MERIDITH MAY