Ktima Biblia Chora Ovilos Red Cabernet Sauvignon 2021
£45.75
The wine
An elegant and concentrated Cabernet Sauvignon with intriguing and complex aromas of cassis, cedar, violets and tobacco leaf. Vibrant and balanced, with black fruits, a touch of sweet chocolate and a long, full-flavoured finish.
Ovilos Red is varietal Cabernet Sauvignon, aged in French oak and released with several years of age. Cabernet has been grown in Greece since the 1960s and does well at altitude, where the cool nights preserve the cassis and cedar aromatics. The flagship red, and among the most highly regarded in the 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.
