Gerovassiliou Avaton 2015 750ml

The 2015 Avaton is the winery’s indigenous blend (60% Limnio, 20% Mavroudi and 20% Mavrotragano), aged for 12 months in French barriques (50% new). It comes in at 14.2% alcohol. The best vintages in this brand combine finesse, structure and ripeness. This is all that. It is a fine offering. Textured with velvet and rather seductive on opening, this then tightens considerably for a very late release that already has seven years on it. Focused and precise, it shows concentrated fruit supported well by a real backbone. It is not as expressive as it will be, but it still does well even now, with touches of plum, blackberries and leather around the edges. It is easily drinkable now and comes around reasonably fast, but it is still on the upswing. It should hold throughout the decade, maybe more. The more interesting question will be how it might improve, not just hold. There, some questions remain, but I’m optimistic.

• Country: Greece
• Region: Macedonia
• Size: 750ml
• Color: Red