The vintage report of 2012
An excellent year for both whites and reds
Our varieties started their vegetative cycle early (late March, beginning of April) due to the hot March.
The high relative humidity and precipitation level were the main weather characteristics till the end of May and resulted to a slight attack of mildew in Malagouzia and Assyrtiko vineyards. The temperature was in favor of vegetative expression which delayed flowering a few days (end of May, beginning of June).
The increased temperature of summer months restricted the problems of mildew. Both fruit set and berries development happened in extremely hot and dry conditions. Plants were successfully adjusted to high temperature and as we helped them by irrigation, they started veraison earlier than the normal period (beginning of August instead of mid to late August). For the first time in our short history we irrigated Assyrtiko. Of course we didn’t eliminate lateral shoots and we didn’t defoliate this year in order to avoid sunburn.
We started the vintage of our white varieties with Malagouzia at the end of August and finished with Athiri and Assyrtiko at the beginning of September.
Beginning of September the weather continued to be hot and dry, but then it changed with 5 days of continuous rain and relatively low temperature which resulted to delaying maturity process of Xinomavro. The other red varieties like Negoska, Moschomavro and Mavrodaphne were not much affected and they were picked up after the 20th September.
Waiting for Xinomavro to be well matured, we arrived at the end of September, beginning of October.
The characteristic of this year in our vineyards, we think it is the slightly lower yield (especially in reds) and the best matured and delicious grains we have ever tasted (especially for Xinomavro).
The first tasting of the young wines just after the end of fermentation is very promising. Our white wine is full bodied with flowers and fruits dominating on the aromatic palette,
Argatia red is a dark wine with very pleasant tannins and a fruity aromatic profile, while Xinomavro seems to reach the quality level of 2011, but having a very different expression. Let’s see!!!