This year's Decanter World Wine Awards Regional Trophy for Greek Red under £15 went to Ktima Pavlidis, Thema, Drama, Macedonia 2011 (15%)
Tasted against:
- No other Golds in this category
Profile:
President of one of Greece’s largest marble companies, Christoforos Pavlidis spent some time scouring his homeland for the right place and the right people with which to start Ktima Pavlidis, eventually settling on Drama.
The vineyards were planted between 1998 and 2004, and now total 65 hectares, 20ha of which are organic. in recent years it has started to lean more towards indigenous varieties (in 2010 it replaced parcels of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot with Assyrtiko and Robolla); however this Trophy-winner is a happy marriage of the two, being 60% Syrah and 40% Agiorgitiko.
Both grapes come from vineyards planted in the valley of Drama and reap the rewards of the cooling winds that come down from the mountains at night. The soil here is quite diverse, although it’s largely sandy clay, with a significant amount of limestone subsoil.
Once the grapes are picked – by hand, and at night to avoid the heat of the day – they are chilled to about 6°C and then go through a rigorous, two-step selection process before being placed on elevators and gently lifted to fill the tanks.
The aspiration with all of the Ktima Pavlidis wines is to retain the authenticity of the grapes, the typicity of the Drama terroir and to highlight elegance.
Written by Decanter
