Winephabet Street X is for Xinomavro

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.

The Webinar

The Podcast

It's All Greek to Me

Back in the early '90's (okay I am dating myself) I spent a week in Greece.  It was a spur of the moment trip to go visit a friend who had bugged me for years to visit her on the island her family was from.  Little did I know then that I would be marrying a person half Greek.  Yes, my mother-in-law is off the boat from Athens.

A week in Greece took me to two islands, Chios and Santorini.  I got the best tan I ever had and drank a lot of Heineken. I even got asked to go for a late night bite of beef stew with a guy from Zimbabwe (no I didn't go).

Wine wasn't even in my vocabulary then and I guess it might have been a good thing.  Fast forward to 2008 when I got asked (by the same friend I visited in Greece) to pour Greek wine for her church fundraiser.  In the past years that I have been pouring wine at this fundraiser (and drinking it too) I have seen a huge improvement in the quality of wine coming from Greece.

Last week I had the opportunity to take part in Wine Studio's Greek Wine Tasting.  I was quite blown away on the quality and think Greek wines have come a long way. They held up quite well on day 2 too.

We began with the 2012 Domaine Skouras Moschofilero, Peloponnese region.  This wine was fermented in stainless steel with no malolactic fermentation.

When I first opened it and took a sip two distinct things popped out at me.

• a strong honeysuckle aroma followed 
• a strong white pepper finish.

As the wine opened floral notes along with rosewater and some passion fruit appears.  Nice acidity and a little minerality has a nice fresh feeling on your palate as the wine finishes with hints of orange zest and white pepper. SRP $18

Next up was 2011 Domaine Sigalas Assyrtiko-Athiri, Santorini - This wine reminded me of a Riesling due to the petrol notes.  Nice quince scents with some red apple.  The palate was lemony with hints of petrol and a peppery finish. SRP $18

We then moved onto the Red a 2009 Alpha Estate Xinomavro, Hedgehog Vineyard, Amyndeon.  Amyndeon is located in the Macedonia region of Greece. This wine did spend one year in oak and that would explain the woody notes I found on the nose.  Nice black fruit aromas, standing out was boysenberry and clove with wood scents.  The palate had nice acidity and tannins, red and black fruit and a short black pepper finish.

My favorite for the evening was the Moschofilero.  My Greek husband wasn't around but did get to taste the next day and his favorite was the Xinomavro.