Ktima Biblia Chora Areti White Assyrtiko 2024
£22.45
The wine
Precise and expressive aromas reminiscent of lemon, tangerine and exotic fruit zest are underpinned by characteristic stony minerality. With lovely texture and a zingy freshness, the palate is beautifully balanced through to a lingering finish.
Areti means virtue. Assyrtiko is Greece's finest white grape, best known from Santorini, and grown here on the granite and limestone slopes of Mount Pangeon at 350 metres it keeps the searing acidity and stony character while gaining a little more flesh. The vineyards face north-east, which is deliberate in a hot country.
The producer
Ktima Biblia Chora
View all Ktima Biblia Chora winesKtima Biblia Chora is the joint project of Vassilis Tsaktsarlis and Vangelis Gerovassiliou, two of the most influential winemakers in modern Greece, who planted the estate in 1998 on the slopes of Mount Pangeon near Kavala in Macedonia.
The name means land of the sacred vine, and the hill has a long history: Pangeon's gold mines financed Philip of Macedon, and the surrounding country has grown vines since antiquity. The vineyards sit at around 350 metres on granite and limestone, facing north-east, which is unusual in a hot country and deliberate. That exposure and altitude keep the ripening slow and the acidity intact, which is why the whites here have the tension they do.
The estate has been farmed organically since planting. Assyrtiko is the signature, sometimes alone and sometimes with Sauvignon Blanc or Semillon, and the reds run from Agiorgitiko to Cabernet Sauvignon and an unexpected Pinot Noir. Ovilos and Areti are the wines that made the reputation.
