Winemaker Notes
An aromatic complex wine which combines powerfully fresh red fruits and notes of rose, make up this vintage of Ramnista. On the palate, gentle tannins and round mouth feel, with distinctive sense of the oak barrel. The unexpected full body and robust acidity showcase a great wine with aging potential up to 15 years.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
This wine achieved something rare at our panels: a unanimous “yes” vote from the tasters. Editor Joshua Greene called it “vibrant, bright, floral, spicy,” while Lisa Granik, MW, appreciated its “pure blackberry” fruit. For this cuvée, winemaker Stéllios Boutáris focuses on vineyard parcels with lighter soils, to coax out more aromatic complexity. He ferments the juice in large vats of French oak, then ages the wine for 16 months in French and American barriques (80 percent) and 500-liter barrels.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Kir-Yianni 2019 Naoussa Xinomavro Ramnista Single Vineyard offers medium-plus intensity with ripe berry notes and strawberry tart followed by tart tones of unripe plum and minty apple. The aromas are on the ripe and dry side.
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.
Naoussa is home to one of Greece’s most age-worthy reds: Xinomavro. Flourishing on the sun-exposed, southeastern-facing slopes of Mount Vermio between 700 to 1,700 feet in elevation, some say Xinomavro is Greece's red counterpart to its famous white, Assyrtiko. Others liken it to Italy's well-respected, highly perfumed and powerful, Nebbiolo.