Pronounced ‘mosko-fee-lair-oh’, this Greek variety makes very fragrant white wines. With a super-pretty nose of florals and muscat-like rose and lychee, this wine from Gaia is deliciously aromatic, crisp with a texture of savoury minerality, and energetic with acidity. Gorgeous, dry, perfumed. Yassou!

As Greek wines have emerged onto the world stage in the past decades, few businesses have been as integral, or as influential as Gaia. Owning vineyards in Santorini and Neméa, Gaia produces some of the country’s most sought-after wines and have set benchmarks in what has been referred to as the ‘last frontier of the wine world’. Ktima Gaia (Gaia Estate) was launched in 1994 by agronomist Leon Karatsalos and oenologist Yiannis Paraskevopoulos and has since produced many ground-breaking wines that have defined the current styles. Thalassitis Assyrtiko was the first wine produced by the estate, and is an exercise in class, showing complex minerality in a way that expresses the true greatness of the Assyrtiko grape. A tiny production of ‘underwater-aged’ Assyrtiko, released after 4 years and named ‘The Submerged’, is a true collector’s wine that demonstrates the ease with which this variety holds the years. Establishing their Neméa winery in 1997, closely followed by their Santorini facility in 2001 has allowed Leon and Yannis to work fastidiously at their craft and Gaia has grown to become one of the world’s great wine estates.