Vatistas Winery: Pioneering the Rebirth of Petroulianos
The Vatistas Ioannis Winery was born in the 1990s when Ioannis Vatistas decided to turn his love of wine into a winery. He created his vineyards in one of the most viticulturally advantageous areas of Monemvasia; setting them on the plain of Voion and on the slopes of Pantanassa. Over the years, the vineyards have expanded considerably. The Vatistas family now has over 400 acres of Greek and international varieties.
While many of us know and love some of the grapes in the Vatistas vineyards, like Kydonitsa, Mavroudi, Monemvasia, Roditis, Mantilaria, Assyrtiko, Aidani , Athiri, Agiorgitiko, and Malagouzia; others are significantly less familiar. Since they first started bottling in the 90’s, they haven’t stopped experimenting with local varieties which introduce us to grapes such as Asproudi, Thrapsa, Smyrneiko, and Petroulianos. And it’s the latter I’m talking about today.
Petroulianos is a very rare and nearly extinct variety. It attracted Ioannis Vatistas’s attention during his search for rare, local varieties prompting him to cultivate it within the winery’s vineyards in Laconia. Petroulianos has some pros and cons in both the vineyard and winery. An early-to medium ripening white variety, it shows great resistance to drought and downy mildew, however is susceptible to powdery mildew. What little Petroulianos existed before Vatistas generally wound up in white blends due to the grape’s lower acidity levels. That last hasn’t seemed to put off the Vatistas family though. After cultivating the grape, Ioannis put it in the hands of his daughter Maria to make possibly the first varietal Petroulianos anyone has made in quite some time.
Vatistas Petroulianos PGI Laconia, 2019
Maria fermented and matured the wine in stainless steel tanks, with no oak influence, and let it rest on its lees for a number of months. When younger, the wine shows a pale to medium lemon color. I ended up with a bottle of an older vintage, from 2019 and the wine showed that little bit of age in its deeper medium gold color.
Based on what I can tell from descriptions I’ve read about the wine, one might want to have a little age on it! This being my only experience with this grape, I’d no idea what to expect beyond the vague descriptions of “discreet white fruit and citrus” aromas I saw online. However, I found this to be a rich wine with intense citrus, tree, and stone fruit. Pomelo and limequat mixed with apple peel and ripe peach, apricot jam, decorated with delicate almond blossoms. Medium-bodied with almost effervescent acidity and 13.5% abv.
I paired this with Asian-inspired salmon and broccoli and found it quite enjoyable together.
This isn’t the only wine I’ve liked from Vatistas. Their Kydonitsa is one of my favorites and hopefully I will remember to post that review sooner or later!