Greek wine has arrived. No longer is it treated as a place full of oddities and obscurities, but as one of the genuinely great wine-producing countries. Alpha Estate’s Xinomavro “Hedeghog” ably demonstrates why. It’s not just great Greek wine, it’s great wine period. With its floral aromatics, deep mineral savor, and structure perfect for long-term aging, “Hedgehog” marries power and elegance in a way that feels deeply classic. This bottle thrums with energy and life, and it’ll make anyone who loves Barolo or Brunello sit up and take immediate notice. Xinomavro is gaining a reputation as Greece’s most important red variety, thanks in no small part to Alpha Estate itself. Founder Angelos Iatridis is a true pioneer of the Amyndeon region, being Bordeaux-trained and consistently turning out wines that rank with the world’s best. Greece may have a millenia-old winemaking culture, but it’s the future that’s got us most excited. One taste of “Hedgehog” and you’ll agree it looks very bright indeed!
In the far north of Greece, less than 40 miles from the border with Macedonia, lies the Amyndaio appellation. This is a special place in the country; if the climates of most Greek regions are distinctly Mediterannean, things turn a little more Continental up here in Amyndaio. Vineyards sit on a plateau at over 2,000 feet elevation; cooling winds blow in off the nearby Vermion, Vitsi, and Voras mountains; and there’s dramatic diurnal temperature shifts, with warm daytime temperatures becoming chilly nights. All of this combines to create some of the most unique red wines in Greece. Power and ripeness are the name of the game for most of the country’s reds. But when it comes to the Xinomavro-based reds of Amyndaio, elegance and grace come to the fore. In a wine like Alpha Estate’s “Hedgehog” Xinomavro, there’s still plenty of rich fruit and ample structure, but it’s married to an aromatic lift and tensile energy that calls to mind nothing if not Nebbiolo.
Amyndaio’s climactic conditions were exactly what Angelos Iatridis was looking for when he founded Alpha Estate. Angelos doesn’t come from a winemaking family; his father was a chef and Angelos found his way to wine through restaurants. Angelos studied in Bordeaux and served as a consulting winemaker to other Greek wineries for years before deciding to strike out on his own. He set out to find a place where he could make wines of elegance, bottles to compete with the French and Italian classics he’d come to love, and was drawn to Amyndaio. There, in 1997, he established Alpha Estate alongside viticulturist Makis Mavridis, and cobbled together a frankly insane collection of old vineyards from local growers. In many ways, Alpha Estate is the story of contemporary Greek wine in a nutshell: the vineyards that formed the basis of the estate were mostly going to be abandoned until Angelos stepped in and realized their potential. Now, Angelos is one of the leading lights of Greek viticulture, and it’s his Xinomavro wines that garner the most international praise.
Angelos’ top Xinomavro comes from a vineyard he calls “Hedgehog,” with a northwest exposure on sandy loam soils. It’s handpicked, destemmed, and fermented on skins for a little over two weeks before being pressed to French barrels, a tiny portion of which are new. It then ages for a year and is bottled. Treat it as you would any great aromatic red, serving just above cellar temp in Burgundy bowls. The nose here is downright seductive, a mix of dried red cherries and raspberries, ripe blackberries, orange peel, rose petals, clove, leather, cedar, and hot rocks. On the palate, it’s firmly medium-bodied, with the ripe and juicy fruit coming through before a wave of finegrained tannin frames it all in. There’s an obvious kinship to Nebbiolo here–indeed, before DNA testing disproved the theory, some conjectured a relation between Nebbiolo and Xinomavro–but with an extra gear of ripe Mediterannean fruit. It’s resoundingly delicious right now, and it’ll definitely reward a few years of patient aging. Grab a few and you too will be singing the siren song of Greece!
