Akriotou Orivatis Old Vine Savatiano 2021

Akriotou, "Orivatis", Old Vine Savatiano, Sterea Ellada, Greece, 2021    

Grapes: 100% Savatiano, 45 year old vines.

Vassiliki Akriotou sources her fruit for this wine from the "Plataies" vineyard, near the village of Plataea in the Sterea Ellada region, north-west of Athens. At an altitude of 300m, the vines are situated at the foot of Kitheronas Mountain and have low yields due to a combination of age and the cold winters & hot summers being perfectly suited to the local Savatiano variety.

Before fermentation the free-run juice was cold macerated and given skin contact for six hours. Cold fermented in stainless steel, the resulting wine was then left on its lees for three months with bâtonnage (stirring) to give an extra, complex, textural component.

Intensely aromatic, with notes of ripe peach, quince, creamy vanilla and an intriguing hint of "Turkish delight". Dry to taste, with perfectly balanced freshness, intense flavours of grapefruit, pepper, ginger and wild mint lead to a long and spicy finish.

"Such an interesting and hard-to-describe aroma because this is not an aromatic variety. It has an unusal sour note as well as something that reminds me of fine sake. Herbal and wild. On the palate, this has remarkable depth for a wine with just 12.5% alcohol and has a creamy texture and that savoury (not-fruity), almost smoky complexity that I have to call 'mineral'. The lees richness shows on the long finish that ends with a hint of dried grasses. Terrific wine. So complex and hard to describe."

Very good value 16.5/100 points, Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson.com, January 2023

Also awarded "Gold Medal" in 26th Berlin Wine Trophy, 2022.

A true "Mountaineer" wine.