A-Grafo Limniona

Limniona A-Grafo - Kontozisis Organic Vineyards - Karditsa, Greece - Natural wine - USDA Organic - No Sulfites

A-Grafo (“Uncharted”, meaning of the adjacent “Agrafa mountains”), is an honest interpretation with zero-added sulfites, of the popular variety Limniona grape, revived it in its home soil of Karditsa.

  • Grower: Kontozisis Organic Vineyards
  • Vintage: 2021
  • Type: Red Dry Wine
  • Grapes: Limniona 100%
  • Appellation: PGI Karditsa
  • Alcohol: 13.50%
  • Bottle: 750ml
  • Viticulture: Certified Organic
  • Vinification: Contact with skins and stems for 4 months, spontaneous fermentation with  indigenous yeasts for 30 days, and ageing in clay amphora for 18 months.
  • Files:   

Viticulture

  • Certified Organic
  • Climate: Vineyards on flat topography, with humid microclimate.
  • Soil: Moderately 
deep sandy-loamy soils with low organic matter and neutral pH. 
Average water reserves, suitable for dry land farming.
  • Vine age: Planted in 2000
  • Altitude: 200m
  • Slope: Semi-flat
  • Planting density: 4,000 plants / ha
  • Yield: 1-1.5kg / plant
  • Irrigation: None
  • Spraying: If required
  • Harvesting: Manually

Vinification

  • Maceration: Contact with skins and stems for 4 months
  • Pressing: None
  • Temperature Control: Pre-fermentation
  • Fermentation: 30 days in stainless steel tank with indigenous yeasts
  • Malolactic: Naturally completed
  • Maturation: 18 months in clay amphora
  • Clarification: None
  • Filtration: None
  • Production: 2,000 lt
  • Alcohol: 13.50%
  • Acidity: 5.45 gr/l
  • Volatile Acidity: 0.65 gr/l
  • RS: 1.70 gr/l
  • Total sulfites: 10.00 mg/l
  • Certification: USDA Organic Wine, No Sulfites Added
  • Bottle: 750ml

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.

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.