2024 GAI'A Thalassitis

Gai'a Thalassitis 2024 is made entirely from Assyrtiko, the indigenous white grape of Santorini, a volcanic island in the Aegean whose soils are almost pure pumice and ash. This wine is bone-dry, full-bodied, and built around crisp acidity and a mineral spine that reflects the island's terroir more directly than almost any other white wine in Greece. The 2024 vintage captures Assyrtiko at its most expressive, balancing immediacy with the structure to evolve over the next five years. Gai'a was founded in 1994 by winemakers Leon Karatsalos and Yiannis Paraskevopoulos, who set out to elevate native Greek varieties to international quality standards. Their Santorini fruit is grown in the island's traditional basket-trained vines, a necessity in a landscape scoured by wind and salt spray, where the volcanic soils retain almost no water. The Assyrtiko grapes are fermented in stainless steel to preserve the variety's hallmark minerality and acidity, with no oak aging intervening between the vineyard's character and the glass. Thalassitis—named for the Greek word for sea—is the flagship white of the Gai'a portfolio and one of the most critically respected expressions of Assyrtiko available in Chicago. The wine delivers saline minerality first, followed by delicate honeysuckle, lemon zest, and a flinty, almost chalky finish. It pairs cleanly with raw oysters, grilled octopus, feta-stuffed phyllo, or any preparation of salt-cured fish. Drink it young to enjoy the mineral tension, or cellar it for two to three years as the fruit and honey aromas expand and soften the palate. This is a wine that rewards both immediate consumption and patience, and it holds up to rich, oily preparations better than most whites at this weight. Gai'a Thalassitis 2024 is available for pickup at our Lincoln Park bottle shop at 1128 W Armitage Ave, local delivery throughout Chicago, or nationwide shipping.