Aori
Kotsifali, 2022

Crete, Greece

£29.80

aori_red.png

Aori
Kotsifali, 2022

Crete, Greece

£29.80

We currently have 3 in stock. Please email hello@thesourcingtable.com to request more.
SIZE:
75cl

Crete is home to a number of native varieties, but there are relatively few plantings of Kotsifali, which can produce elegant reds with fresh acidity, fine silky tannins and bright sour cherry fruit.

This wine is incredibly elegant, with lots of red cherry and a stony minerality on the nose. Within a few minutes, it opens up on the palette to sour cherry, wild strawberry and white pepper with fine well-structured tannins and a silky texture.

About Aori

Aôri, which means 'mountain' in Cretan dialect, was set up by ex-sommelier Aimilios Andrei and Dimitris Skouras, oenologist and viticulturalist. The project is based around some impressive high-elevation vineyards which Aimilios discovered near Spina, on the mountainous coast southwest of Chania. The altitude – the vineyards they work with are between 750- 850m above sea level - gives a much cooler climate than you might expect in the Mediterranean. Grapes have been grown on Crete since the third millennium BC and it's home to a number of local varieties.

Aimilios was searching for Kotsifali, a rare red grape that can produce elegant wines with high acidity, fine tannins and bright red fruit. He also found 100-year-old plantings of Muscat of Spina, a native clone of Muscat a Petits Grains. He's not usually a fan of this aromatic variety, but the vineyards were so spectacular – ungrafted and densely planted on schist soils over slate he decided to make a wine from there. The result was a Muscat that didn’t smell typically aromatic, Aôri’s Muscat of Spina is saline and textured with refreshing acidity. Their winemaking philosophy is low-intervention, to add as little as possible without risking the precision and clarity of the wines. This is a young project, but we’re excited to see how it develops.

View all wines