Since the 1840s, the Dalamara family has been cultivating vineyards in the Naoussa Denomination of Origin, a prestigious wine-growing zone in Macedonia that in the 19th century produced a wine that was served on the noble tables of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in Prussia, Bavaria, up to Egypt and Ottoman empire. The crisis caused by phylloxera from the 1920s was particularly acute to the point of decimating the vineyard that went from 2500 ha in the early 20th century to 50 ha in the early 1960s. Today the Naoussa region is again identified as a qualitative region and the farm Dalamara cultivates 6 ha of vineyards in agriculture, in the areas of Paliokalias (historic family vineyard, acquired in 1960) and Vados, in the central and southern part of the appellation. In 2011, the young Kostis Dalamara, the sixth generation to produce, took the leadership of the farm after graduating from Burgundy. It perpetuates a classic style in wines, with organic farming, an ecological approach to exploration fed exclusively on “green” energies and a palpable cultural dimension when it takes place in the cellar, still today open to individuals who rent the premises to produce their brandy homemade and at lunch time they are animated by the sound of quality traditional Greek music. Most of the vineyard is planted with the indigenous Xinomavro red grape variety (which means black and acidic), completed in red with Merlot while in white, the varieties Assyrtiko and Preknadi make up the lots. The reds (Naoussa 100% Xinomavro, Ayehorosa Xinomavro 80% with 20% Merlot) present a very singular fleshy fruit with a core and a dense material that combines freshness and depth, with an autumnal and blood component. Kapnistos and Thoos whites are more direct in fruity Mediterranean expression through a shorter stage, although Kapnistos reveals touches of veil and oxidation that also makes it unique and gastronomic.
Dalamara
Kostis Dalamara
Naoussa
