2020 Vieilles Vignes Single Block Reserve Xinomavro
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
In a heavy glass bottle, the Alpha Estate 2020 Amyndeon Xinomavro Ecosystem Reserve Vielles Vignes Barba Yannis sees fruit sourced from clay loam over limestone at a high 647 meters above sea level. These are ungrafted bush vines of Xinomavro aged in French oak for 24 months. The unfiltered wine has ripe raspberry and wild strawberry over a mid-weight finish. You might do well to serve this wine a few degrees chilled to bring out those tangy berry aromas. There is a hint of cinnamon and black pepper too. The wine embodies simple elegance and holds back on heaviness, which is its most charming feature.
Critic scores
Average Score
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Monica Larner, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
Full bottle 1,568 g. Ungrafted gobelet vines planted in 1919. Sandy clay loamy soil over limestone conglomerates. Destemming, light crushing, cold soak, alcoholic fermentation by indigenous flora isolated from the specific block, at gradually increasing temperatures, kept on lees for 24 months with regular stirring. 24 months in new Allier and Jupilles French oak casks, medium grain, white toasted and 12 months in bottle before release. No treatment or filtration before bottling. TA 6.41 g/l, pH 3.39. This seems to be getting lighter in colour with every vintage. In 2020, it is mid to light cherry red. Intense Xinomavro aromas of both sweet and sour cherry, wild flowers/herbs, just a hint of tomato leaf. Open and fragrant and with a stony/mineral dustiness to add another dimension to the fruit. Juicy, with masses of sweet/sour red fruit on the palate but no unwanted sweetness, immensely fresh, intense and finely balanced. Dry tannins yet not as marked by them as I might have expected for the variety. Pure, direct, long and with a very long life ahead. Benchmark, ageworthy Xinomavro with more depth on the mid palate then the Hedgehog Xinomavro. (JH)