Sometimes It's Not About the Wine

I had a plan. An agenda. I was to buy two wines, go on a boat and get a very picturesque and interesting tasting note. What came instead was much more important.

Sarantis is a man of the sea. Weathered skin, fingers as thick as ropes, and the smile of an old Disney character. Every year we try to spend at least one day with Sarantis and his wife aboard his Kaiki, a traditional Greek fishing boat. It is a small boat, but big enough to create memories. We usually sail down the south coast to a beach that is only accessible by boat. There is never a soul there. Quiet and calm, just us and the breaking waves.

I brought along two wines. A 2024 Domaine Ott Rosé and a Sauvignon Blanc / Assyrtiko blend that caught my eye in the mini market. We opened the first wine, the Rosé, while we watched Sarantis slowly grill two sea bream and a healthy number of prawns. This was accompanied by a Greek salad, tzatziki and bread. All homemade.

Slowly, the idea of filming a tasting faded into the waves. We sat and we drank the wines with stories of the sea and memories of the past. There were just four human beings together on a small wooden boat rocking in the Aegean, with coal smoke trailing up into the sky. I thought to myself, moments like this are more important than a tasting note. The wine became a vessel, much like the boat, for getting us somewhere. A very special somewhere.

Thank you Sarantis, for a magical day as always.