Over ten years ago, I had my first Greek wine, an Alpha Estate, ‘Hedgehog’ Xinomavro. It captivated my palate back then and started my Greek wine journey.

Greece has a long history of production, dating back to at least 2000 BC. In the 20th century, the wines weren’t well regarded. That has changed in modern times. I am too new in the wine industry to remember the age of underperforming Greek wine. Modern Greek producers are crafting wines of outstanding quality and Alpha Estate is one of the ringleaders. They are also wines that are readily available around the world.

Alpha Estate – A Greek Wine Star

This 180-hectare estate is located on a plateau in Macedonia, in the wine region Amyndaio. While Naoussa is the appellation in Greece that is most popular with Xinomavro, the high elevation of Amyndaio also produces fragrant, elegant examples. While Alpha Estate shines with Xinomavro, they do everything well. I’ve tasted their wines for years and have never come across a bad bottle.

Alpha Estate is the brainchild of vintner Makis Mavridis and winemaker Angelos Iatridis. I have noticed a slight change in their labels over the last few years, with a shift towards highlighting single-vineyard wines. Angelos prefers to use the term “Ecosystem” for the top range of wines. He feels it’s more all-encompassing than the word “terroir” – and it’s a Greek word. It’s a move that I applaud.

Whatever line you choose from Alpha Estate, you can buy with confidence. These wines are clean, well-made, express the varieties well, and are affordable. If you see a bottle of Alpha Estate on the shelf, don’t hesitate. Being able to recommend every wine in a producer’s portfolio is a rarity, which is the ultimate compliment to Alpha Estate.

Wine Recommendations:

• Alpha Estate, ‘Turtle Vineyard’ Malagouzia 2019

The Alpha Estate, ‘Turtle Vineyard’ Malagouzia is a single-vineyard white that saw only stainless steel. Straw color with an explosive nose. Hints of lychee, white flower, baked apple, white pepper, and a touch of flintiness. Almost like a subdued Gewürtz with some Riesling-like notes. Very complex for a fresh white wine. The palate matches the nose with intense, mouth-coating flavors. The acidity isn’t especially high but the wine is lovely. A very good example of the grape. Score: 90/100

• Alpha Estate, ‘Aghia Kiriaki’ Assyrtiko 2018

The Alpha Estate, ‘Ahia Kiriaki’ Assyrtiko is a gorgeous Assyrtiko grown at high elevation in Macedonia, Greece. The wine saw a few hours of skin contact. It’s got an intense and focused nose of lemon, white flower, white pear, and flint flavors. Intense on the palate with laser sharp focus and acidity. Persistent length for a fresh white with a limey finish. This goes exceptionally well with shellfish. Score: 91+/100

• Alpha Estate, ‘Hedgehog’ Rosé 2019

The Alpha Estate, ‘Hedgehog’ Rosé is a saignée rosé made from 100% Xinomavro. Notes of strawberry, watermelon, and Greek yogurt, with intense salinity. At first glance (or taste), this acts like another good to very good rosé styled after those from Southern France. The real beauty of this wine lies in the subtle tannins and mineral finish. The wine also has impressive length, making it more than a simple poolside sipper. This is the best rosé I tasted in 2020. Score: 91/100

• Alpha Estate, ‘Hedgehog’ Xinomavro 2017

The Alpha Estate, ‘Hedgehog’ Xinomavro is 100% Xinomavro aged in oak for 12 months. The nose has notes of cranberry, sour cherry, tomato leaf, tar, and a touch of clove. It really smells like a modern Nebbiolo. Silky mouthfeel upfront with some big tannins on the back end. This wine always delivers fantastic value for money and this vintage is no different. Thanks to the acidity and tannin, it should age beautifully but is accessible now, just make sure to have some spare meat. Score: 91/100

• Alpha Estate, S.M.X. 2017

This is 60% Syrah with the remainder being equal parts Merlot and Xinomavro aged in new oak for 18 months. The wood jumps out here but in a good, toasty way. Fruit flavors include blackberry, pepper, rare steak, violets, and dried cranberry. The Syrah really stands out on the nose. The palate is a lot less woody as the fruit jumps out. The nose is all Syrah while the Xinomavro stands out on the palate thanks to plenty of red fruit and tart acidity. Fine-grained tannins. Delicious now and with the ability to age well, this punches above its price point. Score: 92/100

• Alpha Estate, ‘Barba Yiannis Vielles Vignes’ Xinomavro Reserve 2016

The Alpha Estate, ‘Barba Yiannis Vielles Vignes’ Xinomavro Reserve is made from a patch of old-vine Xinomavro and aged for 24 months in wood. Very pretty smell with notes of cherry, cranberry, rose petal, and a touch of tobacco. The palate is layered and super complex. The red fruit comes bursting out of the gate but it followed up with earthy complexity and cedar on the backend. High acidity and small Nebbiolo-like tannins. Serious wine. Score: 93+/100

You can find out more about our scoring system on the WINE RATING page.

Do you like our content?

If you like our articles and videos, we’d love for you to be a part of our community on Patreon. The support from Patreon helps keep the content coming and you access to behind the scenes content. It also gives us the chance to get to know you better. Check out the Exotic Wine Travel Patreon page by clicking the photo below.

Alpha Estate provided tasting samples. The opinions expressed in this article are unsolicited and have not been paid for in any way by governmental bodies, enterprises, or individuals. We do not sell editorial content as that would destroy the legitimacy of our reviews and the trust between Exotic Wine Travel and its readers. On occasion, we extend the option of purchasing the wines we review or/and the products we spotlight. Some of these product links are set up through affiliate programs, which means Exotic Wine Travel gets referral credits if you choose to purchase these items via the links we provide.

The post Alpha Estate: Greek Wine With Style appeared first on Wine Travel.

We first met Dušan Jelić at a Serbian wine expo in Kragujevac, Serbia.  Prior to that, we were already following his website Wines of Balkans for a few years. The information on Wines of Balkans was invaluable as we made our way through the region over three months in the Spring of 2016. Dušan has been very giving of his time and knowledge during the short period we have known him. He has tremendous insight on wines from this area that is still unknown to most of the world.

Dušan Jelić: A Perspective on Balkan Wine

Dušan Jelić, founder of Wines of Balkans and Fair Cape Wines Agency

• What can the Balkans uniquely offer to wine enthusiasts?

The region offers unique gastronomy including Balkan wines made from more than a hundred indigenous varieties. At least 20 of these are responsible for great world-class wines from many different producers and regions, such as Furmint/Sipon, Malvazija Istriana, Posip, Plavac Mali, Prokupac, Tamjanika/Temjanika, Vranac/Vranec, Blatina, Zilavka, Kadarka/Gamza, Mavrud, Feteasca Neagra, Boğazkere, Assyrtiko, Xinomavro, and many more. In addition to top-notch gastronomy, the Balkans is an extremely diverse region that offers the ultimate wine tourism experience!

• How did you get involved with Balkan wine?

My father is a genuine wine lover. He allowed me to start nosing and tasting wine at a young age. I remember my mother ‘complaining’ to him for allowing me to taste the wine. Those moments left a lasting impression since I was at such an impressionable age.

After leaving Bosnia in 1992, at the outbreak of the war, I moved to South Africa. When I returned in 1998, I got a job with the United Nations. That stint was up in 2009 when I relocated again to South Africa at the age of 40 and decided to pursue wine as a new career. After going to various classes on wine over a period of time, I connected with a few people and was eventually appointed as the social media manager for the leading South African wine online company www.wine.co.za. In 2010, I was one of the first social media managers in the wine industry. I was studying at Cape Wine Academy in South Africa. In 2011, I decided to move back to the Balkans and apply what I had learned in South Africa. It was evident that the local winemakers within the Balkans had been shut out or not fully aware of the social media movement. They were hoping that their business would expand simply by making good products.

I started here on a shoestring budget, but I didn’t care because I loved it. Nobody was covering all the countries as a whole in terms of Balkan wine because it takes a lot of time, travel, and financial power. I worked to visit all of the countries and started very humbly. The first year, I was paying all of my expenses; the second year, I got a little help with travel and accommodation, and finally started earning a little on top of that. Eventually, I got invited to be a judge at several competitions as well as a guest of the key regional wine festivals.

• How can the Balkans brand themselves?

We cannot succeed unless there is a concentrated effort. People in our industry are scared to invest money in these things unless they see an instant return. ­ In this game, the benefits are not immediately visible. It’s sad because vintners here are good; they are producing better and better wine, but they struggle with marketing. The cheapest form of marketing is social media, and it is being done randomly and ineffectively—if at all.

You could brand each country or region within the Balkans individually. Macedonia has put together funds for a collective effort to get their wines known. Croatia and Slovenia do have certain funds from the state too. Istria in Croatia is perhaps the best example of how a region can brand itself. They have an excellent branding strategy ­ that is not only about wine quality. They have also been successful by integrating wine with their food, olive oil, and truffles. The branding strategy is one of complete gastronomy, not only wine. The only Balkan variety that has its own Riedel wine glass is Malvazija Istriana from Istria!

My idea is to promote the entire Balkan Peninsula as a collective region. Branding the whole region could combine the different wine regions with gastronomy, skiing in the winter, swimming and beach resorts in the summer, history and culture, and relaxing spas. It is amazing to experience the diversity of landscapes and cultures this region contains, ­ and you can cross the whole area by plane in an hour or so. This small area has so much natural beauty.

Exotic Wine Travel team overlooking the Lake Skadar wine-growing region in Montenegro.

For example, a tourist cannot come to Slovenia for 10 days and be happy. But what if there was an operated tour that tailored three days in Slovenia, three days in Croatia, a few days in Serbia, and a few days in Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, or Montenegro. There is a lot of diversity and experiences to be had in an itinerary like that. Once again, this is my idea; there is no evidence as of now that this will be executed.

• So what does Serbia need to do to distinguish itself?

Our native variety Prokupac is at least 500 years old but there is not a lot of information out there about it. There is a longstanding wine culture here. Serbia needs to promote Prokupac and other indigenous varieties and create stories around them. Wine needs stories! Next, these grapes need to be researched, planted at a greater volume, and mastered to make great wine. Only last month, for the first time,  it was decided that 14th October is being celebrated as International Prokupac Day!

Lastly, it’s not enough to have great wine, there must be a tasting room that holds at least one busload of people. Wineries must have properly trained staff and they must have some proper pairing food available, ­ be it outsourced or prepared by an on­site restaurant. Having a place to sleep tops off the experience because if the wine is good, it isn’t safe to be driving around.

To move to the next level, groups of winemakers within the different regions must organize themselves into associations to brand and market their specific regions. This is difficult in Serbia because I believe that the winemakers here struggle with vanity. I personally dislike it when a producer asks me to compare their wine to someone else’s specifically. This exists all over the world but I believe it happens more frequently in Serbia.

• Tell me more about Serbian wine.

If you had visited Serbia 20 years ago, you would have found next to nothing in terms of great wine. 10 years ago, perhaps a few great examples. But what has happened in the last few years is simply extraordinary. Five years ago, not one winery had an accommodation option and perhaps only 10 or so had proper tasting room facilities. Now, there are at least 50 with proper tasting rooms, 15 or so with accommodation options, and several with great restaurants attached.

There are several passionate individuals who have succeeded in connecting wine with tourism. There are about 30 or so in Serbia who have realized that they can live very well by combining wine and gastronomy. For people to go from the Communist mindset to producing these types of successes in one generation is bloody excellent and gives a lot of hope for the future.

Think about this, the first méthode traditionelle sparkling wine made in Serbia was done only in 2008 by Aleksandrovic winery. Our modern fine wine industry is young and very exciting.

• What is the future for Balkan wine and Serbian wine?

The biggest areas of growth will be Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, and Croatia. Romania and Bulgaria will grow tremendously because of the level of investment made in the wineries and their infrastructure and because of their European Union membership. Greece will continue to make big strides because of the tourist infrastructure combined with their olive oil and food. Croatia will grow at a very fast pace because of their tradition, food, and large volume of tourists.

Serbia will only be successful if there is a better organization at state and/or production level. If in the next five or 10 years, proper organization does not take place, Serbia will grow slowly based on the merits of a few individuals and will not assume its rightful place. I would love to see the top 20 or so producers come together, put in funds, and send professionals to do tastings and classes internationally. They can also invite Masters of Wine or Master Sommeliers from different countries to taste the wines. There is too much reliance on individual success. Serbia has a lot of potential but there has to be better management.

You can find Dušan’s work at his website Wines of Balkans and Fair Cape Wines Agency, and social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or Google +.

Check out our video interview with Dusan:

The finest selection of

Serbian wines

available at:

Shipping is available EU-wide and to the UK.

Check out Wines Available in the USA.

************

    Do you want to try Serbian wines?    

If you’re looking to savor the exquisite flavor of Serbian wines, look no further than wineandmore.com. With an abundance of options from different winemakers, it’s easy to find exactly what your palate desires. Not sure which bottle is best for you? Try out one of their curated wine cases and discover the perfect vintage for any occasion!

************

Want to learn more about wine?

Are you ready to discover the wonderful world of wines? Come join us at wineandmore.com and let’s explore the incredible selection of delicious wines together! We can’t wait to share our passion for wine with you!

You May Also Enjoy
Cracking Croatian Wine: A Visitor-Friendly Guide
Ivana Simjanovska: Macedonian Wine Expert (Wine Judge, Wine Writer)

Featured image courtesy of Wines of Balkans.
The ideas expressed in this article are personal opinions and are not associated with any sponsors or business promotions.

The post Dušan Jelić: A Perspective on Balkan Wines appeared first on Wine Travel.