Gaia S 2010, Koutsi Hillside Vineyard, P.G.I Peleponnese, Greece

14%
€23.49

Available from O’Briens

Made from a blend of the indigenous Agiorgtiko and Syrah, this is a lovely mature wine; sweet ripe red fruits with a tantalising savoury kick from the Syrah; a little new oak still lingering; full-bodied and rounded with good length.

I am a big fan of the Gaia wines and of Greek wines in general. Any country with wines called Lesbos and Drama deserves our attention. With a history of winemaking going back 4,500 years and three hundred indigenous grape varieties, the country should be sweeping all before it. Somehow it hasn’t quite happened yet, but if it does, I am sure that guys like the amiable professorial Yannis Paraskevopoulos of Gaia will have played a large part in that success. The other winery on Santorini produces a superb white Assyrtiko.