Brett happens

The last two wines of the tasting were served without food.

IGP Letrini 2008, Domaine Mercouri ($19.75, 11885537)
Refosco (80%) and Mavrodaphne (20%). Fermented with native yeasts in stainless steel vats. Matured 10 to 12 months in French oak barrels, 40% new. 13% ABV.
Red fruit and a herby almost ferny greenness. Swirling brings out an iodide note. It’s like standing in a seaside raspberry patch. Medium-bodied and dry, the fruit ripe but held in check. Dark minerals, light velvety tannins and bright acidity round out the picture. The savoury finish leaves an impression of purity and freshness. Even better than the bottle tasted back in March. (Buy again? Yes.)
> A wine this elegant and balanced is by definition food-friendly. At the tasting, I had no trouble imagining it as an accompaniment to a veal or pork roast or stew.

And speaking of revisiting Greek wines tasted back in March, I recently opened a second bottle of the Achaïa 2011, Kalavryta, Domaine Tetramythos ($15.45, 11885457). Though I popped the cork a few hours in advance in case it was still in that “weird reductive phase,” I needn’t have bothered: on the nose and in the mouth, the wine was clean, pure and savoury, a pleasure to drink and a fine pairing for pork chops in a sage-flecked tomato sauce.