Welcome to Winephabet Street Season 1 Episode 24 X is for Xinomavro.
Winephabet Street is a monthly series where Lori Budd of Draceana Wines and I work our way through the alphabet exploring wine and wine regions on letter at a time. The show is live on the third Monday at 8pm and is free, but you must register to attend. Put it on your calendar, pour yourself a glass of wine and hang out with us.
We take you to Greece and discuss the Xinomavro grape and the wine it produces in this episode of Winephabet Street.
Xinomavro is the signature grape of the Macedonia region of Greece. It is grown predominantly in the Naoussa region. The name means acid black and is pronounced ksee-NOH-mah-vroh. For more on the pronunciation watch this video by Constantine Boutari. Otherwise, watch the webinar or listen to the podcast below as we talk Xinomavro.
Xinomavro is a wine that ages well. Can be drunk young or aged. As you will see in the webinar, I had a younger wine than Lori and there were some differences.
Alpha Estate 2016 Xinomavro Single Vineyard Hedgehog
Alpha Estate is located in the Amyndeon region of northern Greece. It was founded in 1997 by viticulturist Makis Mayridis and chemist-oenologist Angelos Latridis.
Hedgehog is a subregion of Amyndeon that has northern exposure and faces lake Petron and Mount Voras. The wine was cold soaked with skin contact and aged sur lies for eight months, then twelve months in French oak and twelve months in the bottle before being released.
I opened the wine about 15 minutes before Winephabet Street began. In hindsight, I should have opened it about an hour before. As the wine began to open the fruit flavors became apparent. The tannins in the wine do hold the flavors on your palate. At first I got a little of tapenade and tomato (yes tomato) and not much fruit. As time progressed there were some hints of plum and red fruit.
Listen to or watch the webinar. If you do find yourself drinking a glass of Xinomavro, I would love to hear your feedback on the wine.
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