Methymnaeos, Chidioritiko Lesvos 2015

Jancis Robinson
"Organic wine, aged in French oak. The only producer of this variety, from which Yannis Lambrou also makes a white and an 'orange' wine. 
Pale bricky red, typical for this variety, which always looks older than it is if you judge by the colour alone – but, to judge by my tasting of older wines, it ages well. Complex and distinctive aromas: most prominent is pepper but there's also a sweetness that is more red plum, even a hint of fig and dried fruits, though the fruit is not overripe. Firm, peppery and very dry on the palate, extremely fine but present tannins that make this more suitable as an accompaniment to food than on its own. Fresh, grippy and long. Juicy even with this lovely dry tannic texture. A wine to linger over because it is so unusual – doesn't fit into any category. 17/20 points. (JH)"

Vinous Reverie Notes
The estate was the first modern estate from the island of Lesbos, although the island was exalted for its wines in ancient times. Phylloxera wiped the vine out at the end of the 19th century, so when the Lambrou family revived the almost- extinct Chidiriotiko grape on their ancestral property, it marked a dramatic turning point in Greece’s viticultural history. The situation is unique – the crater of an extinct volcano that used to be home to the famed petrified forest of Lesvos. The lava soil is fantastically rich in mineral content, particularly sulphur, which enables them to follow a strictly organic regime with relative ease. All this novelty aside, we would not have bought the wines if we were not struck by their exceptional quality. While there is a certain kinship here with Limniona, in that the wine is not very dark, not at all heavy and just kissed with oak, it has a distinctive flavor of its own that we would describe as leaning in the direction of Muscat. Not quite as obviously floral as a Ribeira Sacra or Lacrima di Morra d’Alba, it evokes those parallels by dint of its perfumed beauty and tensile strength. A real original that will expand your vinous universe, without neglecting to give you pleasure!