Tasting more orange wines lately and am warming up to the style. It is true that orange wines have become a bit of a hipster cliché, but if you take out the preconception, you are left with [some, not all] quality wines made in an ancient, taditional method.
.
“Paleokerisio” means “old fashioned” in greek, and is a throwback to the old school wines of Iaonnina PGI, a rugged and mountainous region in the North-East side of Greece, close to the Ionian Sea (hence the name).
.
The wine is made from 97% Debina (white) and 3% Vlahiko (red), both grapes indigenous to the area. It is fermented on skins for 12 days, and second fermentation happens in tank. The winery is practicing organics in vineyard and winery.
.
The wine has a pleasant smell of ripe apricots studded with clove ( i like the imagery), ripe mango, honey, aromatic spice, and terra cotta clay (though there are no amphoras used, as far as I understand).Maybe a hint of kombucha-like sourness (which is an aspect of ‘natural wine’ I strongly dislike) , but it gets overshadowed by other flavors almost immediately. It is sweet and a little plush, but not cloying. The effervescence and acid is a nice touch to push through any RS weight. The phenolics ( those bitter qualities of skin contact wines) are restrained and wait patiently until after the finish, and are not too agressive. Overall a fun, decently complex and lively wine that I wouldnt mind having with some sharp cheeses.
by Between2Worlds369
5 Comments
Seems like a fun wine! I’ve had plenty of orange and plenty of sparkling but I’ve never had an orange sparkling wine. Thanks for the notes!
This is my secret weapon to bring to dinner parties
This stuff is a great summer wine. Super fun.
I’ve been seeing a lot more interest in this one, lately. It’s a very unusual wine (a weird balance between sweet and dry), plus the effervescence make it a fun recommendation. I’m a huge fan of Greek stuff in general.
The ultimate First Orange Wine.