Hannah Crosbie: It’s a By-the-Glass Greek Summer

I am currently writing this column from Greece, where I was just poured a taster of assyrtiko by a sommelier who said: “This is our most expressive white variety, hands down.” Oily, green, citrusy and salty, it tasted like a salad dressing that’s been granted a wish to become a wine (complimentary). There are so many indigenous varietals on offer here, but assyrtiko is the first Greek grape that London drinkers have really seemed to embrace, with plenty on offer across the city. May it continue well into the sticky summer I hope to return to.

Toklas is overrun with chic, arty types during London Fashion Week and Frieze, but most of the time it’s a welcoming, sexy spot for the rest of us. Head of drinks Agustina Basilico Miara brings her many influences and interests to its by-the-glass menu – which includes this drop from Domaine Myrsini, with grapes hand-harvested on the island of Paros. With its dialled-up intensity, it’s the dream pairing for Toklas’s fried feta.

Taking its interiors cues from a dream of 1980s Athens, the newly opened Maza in Mayfair has a wine list that does more than pay lip-service to those cultural foundations. At the time of writing, I count five different styles of assyrtiko out of seven bottles on its by-the-glass list. This includes blends with sauvignon blanc, roditis and semillon. There’s no point recommending specific foods to go with such a spread, but “what grows together, goes together” are words to live by.

Since cool-guy chef John Javier was appointed to lead the kitchen at Caia, the menu has been retooled – along with the wine list – as part of a wider refresh for the brand. Now, it’s got an assyrtiko from a personal favourite: Ktima Kir-Yianni, a top sustainable winery from northern Greece. Its vibrant acidity and sharp minerality are just the thing to cut through the fattiness and salt of the lamb cutlet with anchovy sauce. (And if you’re all wined out, the bistro’s also doing a new “Notti hour”, with select cocktails and aperitivo for just £8.)

This article originally appeared in issue 4 of the Broadsheet London magazine. Find a copy here.