It is unlikely that in this life I will ever become a jazz musician Yet after sitting in with Eric Boissenots annual gig I am elated Eric who This famously discreet modest man is not listed in the telephone directory nor does he have a website Social media is not on his daily action list anytime soon His consulting services are in high demand from a whoiswho list of 150 clients worldwide Based in the quiet village of Saint Laurent in the heart of Medoc in Bordeaux The leftand rightbank top addresses make for the ultimate namedropping list out there Elsewhere in Spain Rioja and Ribeira del Duero figure How on earth did Alpha Estate in Florina come into the picture Founderpartner Angelos Iatridis met Eric at Bordeaux University During his studies Angelos had to do an internship in the Medoc So he jumped on a bus but the village of Saint Laurent was the last stop His destination was quite a long way Eric spotted him and offered a lift
The opportunity of sitting in with a master of his craft was inviting A rare insight in shaping the blend of Alpha Estate flagship The 2014 was a wet cooler vintage Dozens of casksample bottles were lined up of Merlot Syrah and Xinomavro Merlot was elegant aromatic vinous with marked freshness not something you usually find in Greek Merlot often overripe and lacking typicity Syrah followed A broad spectrum ranging from floral pepper dense textured cocoa to grapey Impressive It clearly has adapted brilliantly in this coolerclimate plateau of 650m Xinomavro was split in two groups younger 15yo vines noted for their allspice and the ungrafted 90yo that was feral Eric led the crafting blending session He chose the initial heart and continued to taste in groups that we rated and categorised by style So far it was fun We continued all morning while Eric calculator in hand and taking meticulous notes added and adjusted It was all about subtlety The foundation of the blend had taken shape yet we were far from finished Then came tasting bottles of samples of vin de presse Merlot was difficult Broken mosaic pieces Individually they were clumsy No complete snapshots Its chameleonlike talents help it fill in the gaps Syrah was allaround impressive It was difficult to believe that these were vin de presse There were some good wines in there Above several other addresses I can think of Local diva Xinomavro was compelling Higher in natural acidity than the two French grapes it adds an electric charge bringing aromatic fireworks and prolonging the aftertaste Throughout the session assistant winemaker Katia Belli offered valuable counterpoint to Erics craft Insight gleaned from listening to these two was illuminating Ying and yang right in front of you
We started at 930 am and finished at 430 pm Grinning our stainedteeth smiles we seized the moment in silence It felt as if I had attended a Dizzy Gillespie jam when he was turning jazz on its head Prior to leaving we revisited the days work Though raw it was brimming with bright spicy fruity notes and rich flavour with Amyndeos trump card crystalline freshness Alcohol level was all of 128 abv Not all of Greece is capable of delivering so much character at this useful loweralcohol level It moreover underscores Amyndeos mesoclimate Diurnal temperatures sandyclay topsoil sitting on bedrock of limestone plus precisionfarming by founderpartner Makis Mavridis Asking Eric what pleases him in this venture By helping to shape it it is satisfying to see it sell Iatridis who has created some of the most inspiring wines egoless rhetorically replied How many lives do I have to live to acquire Erics experience I also like to hear comment from the real world Erics feedback is precious Next time you hop off a bus have a good look around You never know who may come into your life