Alpha Estate Xinomavro Hedgehog Vineyard 2020
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James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast
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Bright purple-red color. Complex, typical bouquet of small berries red fruits, leather and spices (vanilla, pepper, clove), with hints of ripe blackberry. Full mouth, rounded tannins, balanced acidity and well integrated wood tones. Long aftertaste with intense quince aroma.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Red plums, oranges, strawberries and tea leaves on the nose. It’s sleek, juicy and fruity with a medium body and fine, chalky tannins. Fresh and mineral.
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Wine Enthusiast
The perfect red wine to serve with a slight chill, this elegant bottle from northwestern Greece has invitingly fresh cranberry, raspberry and cherry aromas. The bright tangerine and cherry flavors on the lightbodied palate are complemented by dried herbs and the faintest whisper of cloves, an indication of the 12 months the wine spends in oak before release. It’s made entirely from Xinomavro, a deeply pigmented indigenous red grape, farmed on highelevation plots. Ideal for pairing with all sorts of salty cheeses, meats and other full-flavored fare, it finishes long and bright. The story behind the wine is almost as compelling as what’s in the glass. It’s named after a locally protected species of hedgehog. The Macedonian winery’s footprint dates to 1997, when it was founded by esteemed enologist Angelos Iatridis.
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Alpha Estate is a winery located in the depths of Amyndeon's finest pastures. Alpha represents the "new beginning", the "birth" of a new era in the world of Greek wine. Makis Mavridis, a third generation skilled grapegrower, and Angelos Iatridis, the winemaker, educated in Bordeaux, trained in France, Italy and Greece and ''good father'' to many international well known Greek wines, planted a 65ha vineyard in the Amyndeon region in the late 1990's.
The creation of a privately owned estate vineyard was an enormous and pioneering investment at the time, which signalled the birth of pilot-structured vinicultural exploitation. Our on-going mission is to make wines that bring out the true characteristics of the region they originate from, wines that can reveal the characteristics of the soil, the climate and the typicity of the grape varieties they are made from.
Contribution of the human factor is indispensable to achieve our final goal, which is the production of grapes of the highest quality potential. The wines produced from such grapes are powerful and complex, displaying an intense fruity flavour and excellent balance. The company devotes a tremendous effort in improving the quality of its wines, through carefully planed investments and research programs, in collaboration with many research institutes. The success of these programs allows the company to evaluate permanently the quality and the character of its wine from one "vintage" to the next.
Awarded Wine & Spirits Top 100 Wineries of 2021.
Native to Greece, Xinomavro is widely regarded the finest red wine of the country. Its name literally means “acid black”, and attains fullest potential in the country’s northwest region of Naoussa. These single varietal bottlings of Xinomavro (blending is not allowed here) are often compared to the fine Barolos of Italy for their structure, finesse and age-worthiness. While its vines are fickle and blue-black grapes grow in tight clusters, similar to Nebbiolo, Xinomavro actually appears unrelated. Somm Secret—The use of French oak can help tame Xinomavro but too much can overwhelm it. Some eschew oak entirely during winemaking; other producers use locally-grown walnut.
As one of the few continental-climate, mountainous growing areas of Greece, Macedonia produces notable, high-quality red wines. Xinomavro is its star variety, capable of making a spicy and age-worthy red.