Akriotou Orivatis Old Vine Savatiano 2024

Akriotou, "Orivatis", Old Vine Savatiano, PGI Slopes of Kithaironas, Greece, 2024   

Grapes: 100% Savatiano, 45 year old vines

Producer Tasting Note:

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. An oily texture with vibrant acidity.

Winemaking: 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.

Estate: 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 Kithaironas 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. A true "Mountaineer" wine.

Food Match: Seafood meze (grilled octopus & fried calamari) and grilled fish, poultry & pork with Avgolemono sauce (lemon/egg), Spanakopita (feta & spinach pie), Dolmades (Vine leaves stuffed with rice & herbs), Greek Ladotyri cheese (matured in olive oil) or Kefalotyri