This six-pack is a trip to the edges of the wine map: rescued grapes, overlooked regions, and producers doing things nobody asked them to. It opens with three whites you won't find on most lists. First is a freckled, nearly extinct Greek grape revived on the land where Aristotle taught. Next is a slate-grown Douro white that proves Portugal is more than Port, followed by a Grenache Blanc from a remote corner of South Africa that locals call "the boondocks." Then come three reds: a Hungarian-heritage Kadarka from southern Slovakia, a biodynamic Cabernet Franc from Slovenia's wind-swept Vipava Valley, and a perfumed Trousseau from the Jura's benchmark producer. Six countries, six grapes, zero usual suspects.
2023 Diamantakos Preknadi, Naoussa, Greece
"The Rescued Greek White"
In 1968, ruins on the Diamantakos family's land were identified as Aristotle's school, where a teenage Alexander the Great once studied. The family reinvested the government's compensation in an estate near Naoussa planted only to native grapes. They became local heroes for reviving Preknadi, a "freckled" white nearly wiped out after phylloxera, from cuttings off old neighbor vines. Fermented partly in steel and partly in oak, the 2023 shows white flowers, green pear, citrus, lychee, and white pepper, with brisk acidity and an oily texture built to age.
2022 Passagem by Quinta de la Rosa, Reserva White, Douro Superior, Portugal
"The Douro's Answer to Meursault"
The Douro isn't all Port and hearty reds. Winemaker Jorge Moreira and the Bergqvist family of Quinta de la Rosa source this wine from Quinta das Bandeiras, a high-altitude, slate-strewn estate in the rugged Douro Superior. Old-vine Rabigato, Viosinho, and Gouveio are partly barrel-fermented in French oak, layering white peach, lemon curd, and toasted brioche over crushed slate and electric acidity.
2025 Scions of Sinai, Grenache Blanc "Gramadoelas," Klein Karoo, South Africa
"The Boondocks Grenache Blanc"
Seventh-generation farmer Bernhard Bredell, Tim Atkin MW's Young Winemaker of the Year, worked harvests in Fleurie, Crozes-Hermitage, and Priorat. He then found the same high-elevation shale and schist back home, in an isolated corner of the Klein Karoo known as "Gramadoelas," literally "the boondocks." His previous vintage was named Grenache Blanc of the Year by Platter's Guide. The wine is whole-cluster pressed, native-fermented, and aged in seasoned oak and concrete. It shows white peach, wild fynbos herbs, wet slate, and preserved lemon with a saline, mouthwatering grip.
2024 Bott Frigyes, Kadarka, Južnoslovenská, Slovakia
"The Border-Crossing Red"
Frigyes Bott and his son Frici farm ten organic hectares along the Garam River in southern Slovakia, which was Hungarian wine country until the borders moved after World War I. Their Kadarka, a classic Hungarian red, gets the estate's traditional layered fermentation of foot-trodden juice, whole clusters, and destemmed berries. It then spends nine months in barrel and is bottled unfined and unfiltered. Expect light tannins, dark fruit, warm spice, and lifted aromatics.
2022 Batič, Cabernet Franc, Vipava Valley, Slovenia
"The Wind-Swept Franc"
Domaine Batič traces its winemaking lineage in Slovenia's Vipava Valley, just across the border from Italy's Friuli, back to 1592. Miha Batič farms biodynamically by the lunar calendar on steep terraces of flysch, a layered marl and sandstone, where Mediterranean warmth meets the cold Alpine Burja wind. Wild-fermented with long skin maceration, aged 24 months in Slovenian oak, and bottled unfined and unfiltered, it shows sour cherry, dark plum, graphite, green peppercorn, and dried paprika over fine tannins and energetic acidity.
2023 Benedicte & Stephane Tissot, Trousseau "Singulier"
"The Jura Jewel"
Stéphane Tissot is widely considered the benchmark producer of the Jura, crafting wines of profound purity and terroir transparency through rigorous biodynamic farming. "Singulier" is his monovarietal expression of Trousseau, a rare, thin-skinned red grape native to the region that produces light-colored but intensely aromatic wines. Grown on limestone soils and fermented with native yeasts, the 2023 vintage is a delicate balancing act. The nose is gorgeous and pungent, offering bright aromas of dried rose petals, red currant, wild raspberry, and leafy earth. On the palate, it is light-bodied but deeply flavorful, with notes of ripe strawberry, wet leaves, and warm spices, all framed by vibrant acidity and a long, dry finish. It is a singular, earthy, and highly perfumed red that captures the wild, untamed spirit of the Jura.
