WTN: A failed Assyrtiko

[Otto]

• 2006 Boutari Assyrtiko Kallisti Reserve - Greece, Aegean, Santorini (4/10/2009)
  14% abv; 18,22€ - anything under 20€ here is "cheap", hence its inclusion into the QPR month. So woody that it smells of sawdust. The nice citrussy fruit and acidity is, sadly, overwhelmed by the oak. I will treat any bottles that come my way as if they had ebola. I hope that the slightly cheaper non-reserve version isn't woody.

Posted from CellarTracker

[Mark Lipton]

Otto,
I notice that twice you have transliterated the terminal eta of a name with an "i." Is this standard practice? Of course, one only sees the English name "Santorini" for Σαντορινη which supports the idea that it's standard, but is that also true about Καλλιστη which you wrote as "Kallisti"?

Curiously yours,
Mark Lipton

[Otto]

Otto,
I notice that twice you have transliterated the terminal eta of a name with an "i." Is this standard practice?

In modern Greek, yes. Classical Greek had a larger range of vowels and diphthongs than modern, where many of them have converged in pronunciation. But modern Greek orthography is, just like English, rich in etymological detail, so many words are spelled etymologically but are pronounced differently. Iotacism is very common: ι η υ ει οι υι ῃ are all pronounced as ι.