WINE OF THE WEEK: Château Julia Assyrtiko 2025, Drama, Greece
£21.20, Private Cellar
Sip this and magic-carpet yourself to Greece, not to the island of Santorini, Assyrtiko’s birthplace and HQ, but the mountain-surrounded vineyards of the irresistibly named Drama region in the north of the mainland.
Here, in Greek Macedonia and Thrace, where summers are long, dry and sunny but cool, the Assyrtiko grape produces fruitier, fleshier white wines, but with similar riveting freshness to the punchy, mineral style of volcanic Santorini.
The single-vineyard Santa Julia Assyrtiko 2025, part of a range made from indigenous varieties by the pioneering family-owned and run Domaine Costa Lazaridi, is an invitingly expressive example.
Aged on its lees for six months after fermentation in a combination of stainless steel, oak and concrete tanks, it has a soft-focus smoky, stony character under luminous floral, camomile tea and lime-zest fruit and a lees-enriched creamy texture cut with pithy citrus zing.
All Assyrtiko wines can be paired with fish, but the broader style of Drama Assyrtiko makes it more versatile than Santorini. For Château Julia Assyrtiko this extends from simple grilled fish to fritto misto to creamy fish pies. It also takes in dressed crab and brown shrimps, a wide range of chicken dishes, vegetable gratins, savoury flans and pasta dishes – and who am I to doubt the winery when it suggests yellow split peas, rabbit stews and omelettes? 13.5%. Empty bottle weight: 615g.
Château Julia Assyrtiko 2025, Drama, Greece
£21.20, Private Cellar
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The comparison between Drama's broader Assyrtiko and Santorini's more mineral, volcanic style is really interesting, especially given the same grape. I'm curious whether the six months on lees is what softens the texture and makes it so food-flexible, or if the cooler mainland climate plays the bigger role. Would the winery say this bottling is meant to be drunk young, or does it have the structure to age like some Santorini examples?
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