Acacia and French Oak: White Wine and Wood Aging
- Kounaki Winery — Athiri Acacia 2023 (Rhodes, Greece)
- Von Winning — Deidesheimer Herrgottsacker Riesling 2021 (Pfalz, Germany)
This is a duel between two completely different approaches to wood-aging white wines. Greek Athiri from ungrafted mountain vines, aged in acacia casks, meets a German Erste Lage Riesling from Pfalz’s chief avant-garde winemaker, famous for his oak barrique aging.
A comparison of a sunny southern terroir with crisp northern acidity, viewed through the lens of masterful wood integration.
What to expect:
Kounaki Athiri Acacia 2023 (Greece): An indigenous Athiri variety from the mountain vineyards of Rhodes. Aging in acacia barrels lends the wine extraordinary silkiness without the heavy vanilla notes of oak: expect notes of white flowers (jasmine, acacia), ripe peach, yellow plum, honey, and a delicate, slightly salty marine minerality.
Von Winning Herrgottsacker 2021 (Germany): A top-tier Erste Lage Riesling. Von Winning ferments his Rieslings in 500-liter oak barrels. Expect the ringing acidity characteristic of the 2021 vintage, alongside notes of smoke, ripe grapefruit, flint, light creamy brioche, and distinctive wet stone.
Food pairing:
Baked sea fish (sea bream, sea bass), grilled seafood, poultry with a creamy herb sauce, or aged soft cheeses.
Wine Conversations.
Taste and Evolution: Nature – Winemaker – Time. How is a wine’s aroma born? Unraveling primary, secondary, and tertiary aromas.
Every wine tells a story of where the grapes were grown, how the winemaker guided them, and how long the bottle has rested. In this session, we will learn to catch these details on the nose: from fresh berries and oak barrel notes to complex tertiary aromas of bottle aging. It is a simple step toward understanding the wine in your glass from the very first sniff.