Question from FOH Zoom Session: Retsina Wine

[El Presidente]

What a great FOH zoom session yesterday. Thank you for your company gents 

It is fair to say that Retsina is much maligned as a cheap and cheerful Greek white wine often found Greek festivals and at the bottom of the wine list at Greek restaurants. It turns out that Charles (Chas Alpha) is a fan as is Mike (BigGuns) which is all fair and dandy as I love vegemite.  

The question did come up however:

Is there very good Retsina?

Is there top end collectable Retsina?

If there is top end Retsina, what are it's characteristics?

 

Over to the wine connoisseurs of FOH 

[ha_banos]

Never tried it. More of a Thisbe man myself. 

[Fuzz]

24 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

What a great FOH zoom session yesterday. Thank you for your company gents 

It is fair to say that Retsina is much maligned as a cheap and cheerful Greek white wine often found Greek festivals and at the bottom of the wine list at Greek restaurants.  It turns out that Charles (Chas Alpha) is a fan as is Mike (BigGuns) which is all fair and dandy as I love vegemite.  

The question did come up however:

Is there very good Retsina?

Is there top end collectable Retsina?

If there is top end Retsina, what are it's characteristics?

 

Over to the wine connoisseurs of FOH 

Do you like those pine scented car air fresheners? Would you like that in your wine? Or perhaps you enjoy drinking turpentine? If so, retsina is for you!

Seriously though, high quality retsina made from good quality grapes (not crap quality savatiano) pairs really well with Greek food, especially lamb.

[helix]

😉

https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/retsina-wine-making-surprising-comeback/

 

[riderpride]

Retsina? I have never heard of this whisk(e)y. Please tell me more.

I am a member of both the Buffalo Trace and Four Roses cults though. Maybe some Macallan, Powers, Teeling, and Lot 40 🤷

Cheers

[99call]

20 hours ago, El Presidente said:

Is there very good Retsina?

Retsina to my mind is top of the tree (pardon the pun) of those things which work in their habitat. I.e. salty sea air. Red mullet grilled simply. Sun glinting off the sea. Tangy tart feta dusted with wild oregano, ragged windswept olive groves,..Retsina fits in perfectly. Simple fresh white wine with a resinous edge. 

Buy it and enjoy on a cold rainy day in Manchester with a bubbling fish pie...Retsina will taste like shit.

Enjoyed with it's natural bedfellows I love it. Followed with a ouzo as the sun sets.

[Ken Gargett]

retsina wine is an oxymoron. drink shark repellant instead.

truly vile. it makes sauv blanc look like DRC.

it does not work in its habitat, unless you are cleaning garage floors in Greece.

i have had sadistic dentists who make marathon man look like santa claus inject me with stuff that i would still rather drink than retsina.

most retsina wineries look like the climax to Fargo with what comes out of the woodchopper the premium stuff - pine trees and dead bodies. 

it is an abomination. 

[BigGuns]

Ken, I’d really like you to tell us how you really feel about it. Please, elaborate.  

[Chas.Alpha]

@Ken Gargett you would certainly know this. It was my understanding that retsina got its start from the Greeks wanting to dissuade the (Romans?) from stealing their wine and poured pine pitch into the vats. Is that true or myth?

[Chas.Alpha]

Oooh, Marathon Man. Another perfect movie on my top-ten. “Is it safe?”

[Ken Gargett]

14 minutes ago, BigGuns said:

Ken, I’d really like you to tell us how you really feel about it. Please, elaborate.  

family site. Can't do that. 

[Ken Gargett]

9 minutes ago, Chas.Alpha said:

@Ken Gargett you would certainly know this. It was my understanding that retsina got its start from the Greeks wanting to dissuade the (Romans?) from stealing their wine and poured pine pitch into the vats. Is that true or myth?

I've heard various stories like that but who knows. i honestly don't. but why someone thought it a good idea to add pine resin to wine and then keep doing it, actually presumably enjoying it is bizarre. to me, it suggests that the original wine must have been truly dire. 

[Chas.Alpha]

7 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

I've heard various stories like that but who knows. i honestly don't. but why someone thought it a good idea to add pine resin to wine and then keep doing it, actually presumably enjoying it is bizarre. to me, it suggests that the original wine must have been truly dire. 

I have the wine palate of an over-the-road truck driver. Actually a pity, since one of my family members was one of the largest private wine collectors in the US. At my cousin’s wedding, he brought out a case of the ‘62 Rothschilds. I thought it was pleasantly dry, but thin.

Pearls before swine.

[Ken Gargett]

7 hours ago, Chas.Alpha said:

I have the wine palate of an over-the-road truck driver. Actually a pity, since one of my family members was one of the largest private wine collectors in the US. At my cousin’s wedding, he brought out a case of the ‘62 Rothschilds. I thought it was pleasantly dry, but thin.

Pearls before swine.

you could have said that if he brought out the 61. the 62, not so much. do you remember if it was mouton or Lafite? 

[Chas.Alpha]

13 minutes ago, Ken Gargett said:

you could have said that if he brought out the 61. the 62, not so much. do you remember if it was mouton or Lafite? 

Honestly, no idea Those in the “know” were quite impressed. Might have been ‘61. Tawfiq was known as an astute collector, far as I know.

Me, bring another bottle of retsina! 
<edit> almost certain it was ‘62. At least as my memory goes some 40 years back…

[ha_banos]

I'm intrigued I must try this Retsina thing.

[Chas.Alpha]

Hope you like pine!

[Chas.Alpha]

On 3/26/2024 at 6:28 PM, El Presidente said:

What a great FOH zoom session yesterday. Thank you for your company gents 

It is fair to say that Retsina is much maligned as a cheap and cheerful Greek white wine often found Greek festivals and at the bottom of the wine list at Greek restaurants. It turns out that Charles (Chas Alpha) is a fan as is Mike (BigGuns) which is all fair and dandy as I love vegemite.  

The question did come up however:

Is there very good Retsina?

Is there top end collectable Retsina?

If there is top end Retsina, what are it's characteristics?

 

Over to the wine connoisseurs of FOH 

Can you bring Vegemite to Miami, or would you be arrested at the border? 

[cigaraholic]

 Sometimes you don’t even need your nose to protect your mouth, just knowing what the hell it is makes you smart enough never to put it in your mouth🤮

[Ken Gargett]

7 hours ago, Chas.Alpha said:

Honestly, no idea Those in the “know” were quite impressed. Might have been ‘61. Tawfiq was known as an astute collector, far as I know.

Me, bring another bottle of retsina! 
<edit> almost certain it was ‘62. At least as my memory goes some 40 years back…

in fairness, 62 was also pretty good and back then would have been excellent. 

 

7 hours ago, Chas.Alpha said:

Can you bring Vegemite to Miami, or would you be arrested at the border? 

retsina is the vegemite of wine. 

[Chas.Alpha]

I would love them both equally.