Grape

Xinomavro

This is the shining star of the Greek vineyard! An intriguing grape, that needs good care when growing and though it might be susceptible to wet weather in the vineyard, when healthy, harvested appropriately and treated with focus in the winery hits admirable heights of body and complexity. Moreover and thanks also to its tight tannins and high acidity, it is suitable for long ageing. If you are a cellar fanatic, there is no better Greek grape to invest your patience on. It is obvious from Xinomavro wines of 30 or more years of age available today, that the potential of slow transformation of flavours, increasing complexity and better integration with time is huge.

In view of these powerful taste elements that the grape exhibits, some winemakers choose to under express it, so the result is a more straightforward, approachable, yet appetising wine. In any form there is something truly unique about Xinomavro, a stark personality of a grape that can not be confused with any other. And with only four PDO regions growing the grape, the largest and most significant of which is undeniably Naoussa, there is a good incentive to explore the different versions of wine it can produce, either in mono-varietal forms or in blends with other local and often relating grapes. Herein lies indeed another strength of the grape, as the styles of wine Xinomavro can produce are truly diverse, from Pet-Nat to properly sparkling wines and from rose and light reds to bold reds, worth of long ageing and even botrytised sweet wines produced in special years. Xinomavro might not only be the most unforgettable of Greek grapes but also the most diverse!

Producer

Dalamara

Since 1840 the Dalamara family have been making wine and distilling spirits in Naoussa. Sixth-generation Kostis Dalamaras took over the vineyard and winery fully in 2009 and produced his first single-vineyard organic wine, Paliokalias 2009, now a historic wine. The 6-hectare large vineyard is farmed organically, planted mostly with Xinomavro at about 240-300m elevation and facing South, on the foothills of Mount Vermio. The oldest vines have an age of 85 years. Summers in the area are warm and dry, with plenty of sunshine and winters, are mild with cold spells. The soil is porous rock (Travertina) and there is evidence of cold water streams running at its lower levels.