Iliana Malihin
Iliana Malihin in her brand new project puts the mountain villages of Rethymno under the microscope and aims at a revival of the viticultural tradition of the area. The first duet of labels on the market concerns the mountain village of Melampes and the Vidiano variety. Melampes together with Fourfoura claim the credit of the origin of the most rising variety of the Cretan vineyard. At the bottom of the horizon the goal is the production of wines from different villages of Rethymnon based on the indigenous varieties that each village has.
The truth is that Rethymno, although it lags behind other prefectures of Crete, is a unique source of old forgotten mountain vineyards, between 600 and 900m altitude. Villages such as Melampes, Fourfouras, Vatos have an excellent collection of self-rooted, pre-drying vineyards on steep terraces, whose presence is almost breathtaking.
The cooperation with local viticulturists of the area aims at the revival of these old vineyards as well as the planting of new ones starring Vidiano and other varieties. The cultivation of dry vines is organic and is done manually. The winery follows the philosophy of minimal interventions, with native yeasts, low sulfites and avoidance of processes such as clarification, in order to highlight to the maximum the uniqueness of this unique terroir.
The first result of this great search is two wines from the Vidiano variety in very small productions. Vidiano old vines comes from a rare vineyard of 90-140 + years kept by the winegrowers of the area, while Vidiano young vines is a mixture of three different vineyards that are not older than 15 years.
On the one hand, the old vines express the charm of the maturity of the vineyard giving dense fruit, complexity and depth to the wine. On the other hand, the contrast of the young vines comes through the intensities, the liveliness and the expressiveness of the aromas of youth. Two wines from the same variety and the same region that can and are expressed so differently.
The project is both great and absolutely simple to conceive. The Greek vineyard has an incredible heritage that all you need to do is reach out and hug it. Such efforts by new producers bring Greek wine on a new trajectory ahead of its time.
Akra Chryssos
The newest winemaking project of Santorini by the viticulturist Spyros Chrysos is based on the very old privately owned vineyards of his family in two of the most famous villages of the island for viticulture, Pyrgos and Megalochori.
Spyros Chrysos himself declares himself a viticulturist and not a winemaker, since he grew up from a very young age in the vineyards of this unique terroir.
Spyros is the 4th generation of viticulturists in Santorini and started producing his first wine next to the emblematic figure of Haridimos Hatzidakis in 2015. The total ownership of the vineyards at his disposal is 200 acres, in two of the most famous viticultural villages. Santorini, Pyrgos and Megalochori. The vines are very old with the oldest roots probably over 200 years old.
The cultivation of its vineyards in the dry climate of Santorini is organic and is done without the help of mechanical means. All work is done by hand and with the help of donkeys. Already in part of the vineyard has begun to conduct experiments based on the principles of biodynamic cultivation.
In the winery the wines are produced with mild natural vinifications, using indigenous yeasts and little sulfites. The goal is to capture as clearly as possible the uniqueness of one of the top terroirs on the planet.
From the first production crop we see an authentic expression of Santorini in the glass.
Salt, minerality, rich texture and sharp acidity in perfect balance highlight the importance of completely controlling the raw material and producing wine from your own vineyards on the island. A strong but full of nerve and energy expression of the Santorini vineyard that gives amazing promises for the future and the wines we expect from the new generation of the Santorini vineyard. Spyros in the year 2020 has not yet reached thirty but he was lucky to be born almost in the vineyards of the island.
Winery Economou
The fame of his wines from the plateau of Ziros, at the eastern tip of Crete, far exceeds the possibility that someone in Greece can find them to beautify his collection. It makes perfect sense to think that the same thirst is shown by the international markets that absorb the overwhelming percentage of its small production.
None of the above seems to interest Giannis. He continues, isolated and away from the “lights” in the great terroir of Sitia, to produce wines deeply philosophized, from pre-drying vineyards, consistent with the faith and the principles that govern him. You will not find sites, social media accounts, advertisements, or even a sign that gives you the suspicion of where the winery is located. Time itself does not matter at all. The years that are circulating in the market do not make sense for one crop to follow the next. None of this is a given. Decisions are made with instinct, patience and only when he considers that his wines are completely ready to be released. Even if the market needs to wait for a long time…
His wines “speak” in a completely honest and direct way to those who are lucky enough to try them. They “praise” concepts such as authenticity and out-of-the-box thinking. But it really is nothing more than an honest performance of the possibilities of the terroir of Sitia and a completely different way of life. A life that stands, observes and enjoys the things that happen around it.If great wine means terroir, a reflection of the diversity of the years, skillful vinification and great aging possibilities, then the wines of Giannis Oikonomou are well on their way. A road that takes you deep into the very “soul” of the producer who works this shocking land.
Domain De Kalathas
Endochora
The total production of the Inland does not exceed 12000 bottles per year and comes from a very small vineyard, part of which is privately owned and another is rented with a long-term contract.
Inland comes to be added among the wineries of Crete that bring fresh air and insights into the way of cultivation and winemaking. One of the most impressive features in the vineyard of the Inland is the Vidiano of the estate which is grafted on old roots of Roman (Romeikos) of the region of Chania. So it is not based on an American root system but on an autocratic Roman. We often do something similar in Chile where different varieties are grafted on old, durable and deep roots from the traditional Pais variety.
The vineyard of 14 acres is cultivated with organic techniques but has not yet been certified. Respectively, the vinification is minimally invasive with the use of native yeasts in some wines while in some others neutral while the use of sulfites is moderate.
The winery is based on two excellent varieties of Cretan vineyard, Vidiano and Kotsifali and is framed by Syrah which is a variety that has been acclimatized to the vineyard of Chania.
Markovitis
This phrase more or less sums up the philosophy of Markos Markovitis. He belongs to the new generation of small-scale wine makers of the area of Naoussa who managed to change the panorama of the cultivation of the Xinomavro variety. He studied oenology and viticulture in Germany and soon undertook the management of the small family-owned winery at Polla Nera in Naoussa. The area’s ecosystem is superb and at a great extend secluded. The single-block vineyard which surrounds the winery covers an area of 14 hectares and was first planted by Markos’ grandfather back in 1972. It is actually the first organic vineyard of Greece. Since the very first day that Markos Markovitis took over the winery, he has been trying to leave his personal mark. A keen supporter of monoculture and having realized the qualitative characteristics of Xinomavro variety, he immediately restructured the old vineyard. Initially, 10-15% of the vineyard comprised other varieties. In 2012, he renamed the winery from Château Pigasos to Markovitis. For all of us at Mr. Vertigo his wines are a point of reference for the whole area. Markovitis’ Naoussa has strength and an excellent fruit maturity while preserving the subtle, delicious traits of Xinomavro variety. Markos Markovitis refrains from using terms like single vineyard or organic wine when talking about his wines and he is not interested in producing a premium label. Still, Markos’ Naoussa comes from a single vineyard that is organically cultivated since day one; it has premium wine characteristics and transmutes all the energy and attention of its maker. Markos Markovitis wine making does not follow marketing trends, instead he gives us authentic wines characterized by precision in their expression and rich in content. If you are looking for the true essence of Naoussa you should try one of the hard-to-find, aged bottles of the winery to realize how consistent the Xinomavro variety has remained over time. Markovitis winery possesses one of the most remarkable archives of old harvests in Greece dating back from 1981.
Petrakopoulos
Sant’ Or
In the small winery Sant’Or, which does not exceed 20,000 bottles of wine per year, Panagiotis works exclusively on the vineyards in complete harmony with nature.
In 2007 Panagiotis Dimitropoulos undertook to continue the long tradition of his family, starting the production of wines with minimal interventions from biodynamic cultivation vines. Its vineyard is a model for biodynamic data and is located at 600m altitude in the village of Santomeri, northwest of Achaia. Olives and vines are intertwined creating a wonderful ecosystem, completely isolated and protected thanks to the granite mountains that surround it. Old Mavrodafni vineyards, low-yielding Rhoditis and the rare local Santameriana are the spearhead for the Sant’Or winery. The organically cultivated Agiorgitiko from Asprokampos of Nemea complements the Greek varieties of the estate.
The fermentations are spontaneous with the native yeasts carried by the grapes, while the total sulfite in the range of natural wines of the estate is at very low levels. The wines in all their versions are bottled unfiltered. The wines of Sant’Or winery are charming, have a silky texture, excellent concentration and ethereal elegance. But it is not just the unpretentious beauty of the wines of the estate that Mr Vertigo brought close to Panagiotis Dimitropoulos. We are just as pleased with his wines to talk about the struggle, the ethos, the concentration on the goal, the effort of the producer. A fight that in the end is always rewarded.Since the harvest of 2019, Sant’Or winery is the first certified winery in Greece by Demeter. We at Mr Vertigo Cellar are committed to sharing its unique story.
Winery Sclavos
The breathtakingly authentic character of Sklavos winery’s wines offers much more than a different wine narrative and is defined by the dedication, determination, passion and humbleness of Evriviadis Sklavos. His wines represent one of Greece’s most important terroirs, the terroir of Cephalonia. Evriviadis Sklavos first entered the art of wine-making in 1997. His family comes from the island of Cephalonia. However, in the 17th century some members of his family immigrated to Odessa in the Black Sea. There, they traded and produced wine and established a large family-owned winery. The returned to Cephalonia in 1919 and it was his grandfather who planted the first vines (Mavrodaphne and Vostilidi varieties) at Paliki peninsula. Those pre-phylloxera vineyards are almost 100 years old and still bear fruits. Evriviadis Sklavos studied Agronomy and undertook to continue the centuries-old family tradition in wine-making. He found himself managing old, own-rooted, pre-phylloxera vineyards that had been planted with local grape varieties from Cephalonia such as Robola, Muscat, Muscatel, Tsaousi, Vostilidi, Mavrodaphne and other rare local grape varieties. Under Sklavos, this precious material was treated with the utmost respect through organic and biodynamic (homeodynamic) viticulture. All fermentations in the winery are spontaneous and the wines are bottled unfiltered and unprocessed with minimum added sulphites only when deemed necessary. Sklavos’ discreet, non-invasive approach of the vineyard and the winery translates in ever-evolving wines of expressive clarity, intensity, energy and pulse that convey the passion, the moral values and the soul of their maker while being intrinsically linked to their land. This bond is almost metaphysical. But this is exactly what terroir is all about.