2020 Troupis Moschofilero 'Ekato' Moschofilero

Region: Mantinia< Macedonia < Greece

Grapes: Moschofilero

Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Organic farming; clay-rocky soils; 100 day skin maceration then fermented in terra cotta spheres; lees stirring; bottled without fining or filtering with minimal So2; 13% ABV

Winemaker: Yiannis Troupis

Troupis is an ambitious young winery on the high plateau of Mantinia, on Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula.  They’re small, family-run, quality-focused, and dedicated to the Moschfilero grape – but doing it in a fresh new (low intervention) way, with skin contact, native ferment, no fining or filtering and super low So2 additions.  This is all pretty unusual in the area, so it’s no surprise that this wine was rejected by the Mantinia appellation for being “untypical” – which is why we love these wines so much. As Yiannis Troupis says, “this is Moschofilero as our fathers and grandfathers remember it, skin contact, spontaneous yeast fermented, unfiltered with only the barest amount of sulfites… our homage to the wines native to high plateau of Mantinia for millennia.”

Here, the pink-skinned, pink-fleshed Moschofilero grape gets 100 DAYS on the skins (Ekato in Greek means one hundred) to become what they call, "the first of its kind red wine of the gris variety Moschofilero reddish hue".  Well, technically Moschofilero is a white grape (or really, a Unicorn pink), so isn't this really an orange wine?  The color alone says deep pink rosé or light chillable red, but the tannins from 100 days on the skin balanced by the aromatics of this grape that hang on put it firmly in the (really) orange camp for me, but you can call it whatever you like.  But definitely call it, because its really unique and delicious.  Intensely floral, with rose petals and ginger on the front and a medicinal character, like amaro or Campari (with a shot of Fernet) on the back.  The tannins are real, so this baby needs food — try it with cheese, nuts, tomato dishes or maybe a mezze platter.