Ktima Gerovassiliou Estate Red 2022
£21.95
The wine
Concentrated yet elegant, the Estate Red offers a pronounced bouquet of black fruits, ripe plum and wild cherry complemented by a hint of spice. On the palate gentle tannins are enhanced by great fruit intensity. Round and harmonious, with a long, spicy and persistent finish.
The estate red puts Syrah and Merlot alongside Limnio, the ancient Greek variety recorded by Aristotle. The international pair give flesh and structure, Limnio the herbal, savoury character that marks it as Greek rather than generic. Aged in French oak, and among the most consistent reds in the country.
The producer
Ktima Gerovassiliou
View all Ktima Gerovassiliou winesVangelis Gerovassiliou trained in Bordeaux under Emile Peynaud and returned to Greece to work at Domaine Porto Carras, then began replanting his family's vineyard at Epanomi, south of Thessaloniki, in 1981. That vineyard now runs to around 100 hectares.
His single most important act was rescuing Malagousia. The variety had fallen to a handful of surviving vines and was effectively extinct as a commercial grape; he propagated what was left, planted it, and made a wine from it that changed how Greece regarded its own varieties. Malagousia is now grown across the country and is one of its most popular whites, and it exists because of him.
The estate is among the most respected in Greece and Gerovassiliou is also a co-founder of Ktima Biblia Chora in Macedonia. Avaton, a blend of three indigenous reds, is the landmark red; the whites run from Malagousia and Assyrtiko to unusually convincing Chardonnay and Viognier. There is also a museum of corkscrews on site, which runs to several thousand.
