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By Soft Nails

By Soft Nails - Kontozisis Organic Vineyards - Syrah - Natural wine - Organic grapes - Karditsa, Thessaly, Greece, Greek wine

“By Soft Nails” is a lighter approach to “Limniona”, reminiscent of the traditional “kokkineli” category of Greece, giving us another perspective on the king of Thessalian varieties.

  • Grower: Kontozisis Organic Vineyards
  • Vintage: 2022
  • Type: Light Red Dry Wine
  • Grapes: Limniona 100%
  • Appellation: PGI Karditsa
  • Alcohol: 12.50%
  • Bottle: 750ml
  • Viticulture: Certified Organic
  • Vinification: Fermentation in concrete egg, with minimal sulfites at bottling and no other additives or any manipulation.
  • Notes: Layered blueberry, vanilla, and cracked black pepper. Generous palate with a dense medium body, velvety creamy tannins, and a long fruity aftertaste.
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Key Info

Viticulture

  • Certified Organic
  • Climate: Warm Mediterranean
  • Soil: Calcareous sand
  • Vine age: Planted in 2003
  • Altitude: 300m
  • Slope: 10%
  • Planting density: 1.2m x 2m
  • Yield: 1.5kg / plant
  • Irrigation: When required
  • Spraying: When required
  • Harvesting: Manually

Vinification

  • Maceration: Skin contact for 40 hours
  • Pressing: None
  • Temperature Control: None
  • Fermentation: In concrete egg with indigenous yeast
  • Malolactic: Naturally completed
  • Maturation: 3 months in concrete egg
  • Clarification: None
  • Filtration: None
  • Production: 3,000lt
  • Alcohol: 12.50%
  • Acidity: 5.40 gr/l
  • RS: 2.40 gr/l
  • Total sulfites: 55 mg/l
  • Certification: Made with Organic Grapes
  • Bottle: 750ml

Winery

Kontozisis has been practicing certified organic agriculture and organic vinification since 1991, one of the first to get such a certification in Greece. His long term commitment to organic practices shows his honest approach to sustainability. Andreas Kontozisis and his partner Aphrodite Tousia are working passionately with the area’s indigenous red grape, Limniona, among others, for which they have developed proprietary vineyard techniques to get as much concentration as possible from the variety’s large grapes. All grapes are hand harvested and pruned from the low-yield (28 hectoliters / ha) estate-owned vineyards of 11 ha. Kontozisis uses no press (only free run wines) and no commercial yeasts.

Region

Karditsa is a rural town in Thessaly, in the center of Greece. It is the bicycle capital of Greece, with many bicycle roads and many residents using them as their main transportation mean.

Its terroir is largely defined by the nearby Agrafa mountains, and the artificial Plastira lake. It is also in close proximity to the impressive Meteora rocks, which host the second most important cluster of monasteries in Greece.