Special Episode! Meet the (Wine) Makers #24: High-Altitude Excellence: Discovering PDO Amyndeon &...
Angelos Iatridis has a philosophy that stuck with us: if you want to be a better man, you make better wine. That's the kind of thoughtful conversation we get into in this special episode, a deep dive into PDO Amyndeon and PGI Florina, two of Greece's protected wine designations, with Angelos from Alpha Estate. He talks about Xinomavro, the region's signature red grape, which is often described as sitting somewhere between Nebbiolo and Pinot Noir, but shaped entirely by Amyndeon's high altitude, its ring of three mountains, and two nearby lakes that keep the climate in balance. He explains why the sandy, limestone soil left behind by an ancient lake gives the wine its acidity, and how that same acidity lets Xinomavro age for decades, slowly turning from red fruit into notes of dried tomato and olive paste. Angelos also opens up about how climate change has actually helped ripening in Amyndeon over the last 30 years, why he believes the best winemaking technology should be invisible in the glass, and how his own daughter's research helped preserve the purest expression of the grape for the next generation. By the end, he's picked the exact bottle he'd bring to a big Sunday family dinner, one he says carries both place and memory. It's a warm, generous conversation with someone who clearly loves what he does, and you'll come away wanting to track down a bottle of his Xinomavro for yourself.
