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Innocent Dove

Innocent-Dove - Kontozisis Organic Vineyards - Xinomavro Merlot - Natural wine - Organic grapes - Karditsa, Thessaly, Greece, Greek wine

“Innocent Dove” is a natural approach to a typical blend of northern Greece, between the tannic Xinomavro and the fuller Merlot.

  • Grower: Kontozisis Organic Vineyards
  • Vintage: 2021
  • Type: Red Dry Wine
  • Grapes: Xinomavro 50% / Merlot 50%
  • Appellation: PGI Karditsa
  • Alcohol: 13.00%
  • Bottle: 750ml
  • Viticulture: Certified Organic
  • Vinification: Spontaneous whole cluster fermentation in stainless steel tank, with minimal sulfites at bottling and no other additives or any manipulation.
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Key Info

Viticulture

  • Certified Organic
  • Climate: Warm Mediterranean
  • Soil: Calcareous sand
  • Vine age: Planted in 2003
  • Altitude: 300m
  • Slope: 10%
  • Planting density: 1.2m x 2m
  • Yield: 1.5 kg / plant
  • Irrigation: None (if required)
  • Spraying: If needed (Once or twice per season with copper/raw brimstone (sulfur))
  • Harvesting: Manually

Vinification

  • Maceration: 15-day skin contact in stainless steel tank
  • Pressing: None
  • Temperature Control: None
  • Fermentation: 15 days in stainless steel tank with indigenous yeasts
  • Malolactic: Naturally completed
  • Maturation: 6 months in barrel
  • Clarification: Natural
  • Filtration: None
  • Production: 5,000 lt
  • Alcohol: 13.00%
  • Acidity: 5.50 gr/l
  • RS: 1.80 gr/l
  • Total sulfites: 35 mg/l
  • Certification: Made with Organic Grapes
  • Bottle: 750ml

Winery

Kontozisis has been practicing certified organic agriculture and organic vinification since 1991, one of the first to get such a certification in Greece. His long term commitment to organic practices shows his honest approach to sustainability. Andreas Kontozisis and his partner Aphrodite Tousia are working passionately with the area’s indigenous red grape, Limniona, among others, for which they have developed proprietary vineyard techniques to get as much concentration as possible from the variety’s large grapes. All grapes are hand harvested and pruned from the low-yield (28 hectoliters / ha) estate-owned vineyards of 11 ha. Kontozisis uses no press (only free run wines) and no commercial yeasts.

Region

Karditsa is a rural town in Thessaly, in the center of Greece. It is the bicycle capital of Greece, with many bicycle roads and many residents using them as their main transportation mean.

Its terroir is largely defined by the nearby Agrafa mountains, and the artificial Plastira lake. It is also in close proximity to the impressive Meteora rocks, which host the second most important cluster of monasteries in Greece.