A great memory booster for ones armchair travels wine has that magiccarpetride capability to transpose you to the top of a hill or to a panorama of soil and nature Nearly 20 years now I have been fortunate to crisscross the Greek vineyard When in Mitteleuropa the cheapest way for a quick visit to Hellas through my minds eye is to savour one of her sundrenched wines I value two things above all finesse and the more elusive regional identity When Kostas Mitravelas announced that he has something new for me to taste I was curious as to how he had handled the newborn Confession time I have never been enamoured with overextracted inkyblack monsters Anyone anywhere can ape them Would he have also bred one of these monsters It would be out of character for him to do so but who knows Finally sur place my fears dissipated in a pleasant surprise Kostas is hardly the talkative type Getting him to open up somewhat was like pulling teeth Two bushvine place names Ahladia and Tsindari at the foothills of Koutsi are over 40 years old They are also the lowestyielding of my vineyards I blended these as building blocks to produce a different expression of oldvine Nemea It has more colour and concentration than my Ktima Quantity subject on the vagaries of weather can reach 4000 bottles The 2011 vintage is all of 1300 bottles A 2012 and 2013 were also made Mind you this maiden vintage was not the most uniform or a top vintage Neither a poor one Gaia went as far to declassify their iconic Gaia Estate This is a genuine effort to create a jewel in the crown of this estates wines If Nemea wants to move forward and shake off the current inertia it should look for inspiration to such thoughtful efforts
Deep redblue rim Cocoa powder Finegrained tannins Blackcherry freshness Depth Finesse on the finish Balanced Authentic A creamy classy fruity terroirdriven Mediterranean red capturing Nemeas Agiorigitiko core character Though perhaps a lacklustre vintage the old bushvine wisdom shines A wine with soul Decant for 45 minutes Best 20142021
Wine: Mitravelas Estate Nema, Old Vineyards
Year: 2011
Link: http://www.mitravelas.gr
Score: 17.5
Type: Red
Variety: Agiorgitiko
Area: Peloponnese