Gaia Ritinilis Nobilis Retsina Roditis

Gaía Wines made this Retsina from Roditis in the Peloponnese, from vines on shallow clay and limestone soils on the hills around Corinth. Retsina is Greece's old resinated white style, in which a small amount of Aleppo pine resin is added during fermentation, a practice that goes back to the days when pine pitch sealed wine jars. The resin carries through as a herbal, balsamic aroma rather than a heavy one when the base wine is well made, and Roditis brings fresh citrus fruit and a light body to hold it. The Corinth slopes and their poor, calcareous soils keep the fruit crisp and give the wine a saline lift, so it stays bright rather than broad. This is a modern reading of a traditional wine, dry and clean. The colour is pale lemon. The nose is green apple and lemon lifted by pine resin, eucalyptus and a sage like herbal edge, and the palate is dry and fresh, with citrus fruit, a resinous, faintly balsamic centre and a saline, crisp finish. Serve well chilled at 8 to 10 degrees in a white wine glass.