2021 Domaine Foivos Nautilus White

Located to the west of mainland Greece, in the Ionian Sea, the Foivos Winery is the gem of Kefalonia. The winery specialises in producing wines from rare Greek varieties and uses some of the most intriguing winemaking practices you may ever discover! The grapes are farmed organically and biodynamically, and Foivos also explores practices such as fermentation in clay Amphora and maturation under water. This exciting winery is at the cutting edge of the Greek wine world and is making some of Greece’s finest wines. Many believe Kefalonia to be the next Santorini – so watch this space!

Now, this is an incredibly unique wine, that has been described as being ‘salty, aromatic and volcanic…like Muscat from a rockpool!’. It is aged under water at the winery, so keep reading for a deep dive (pardon the pun) into how this wine is created and what to expect from it. The grapes for this wine (Muscat 30%, Muscatel 30%, Tsaousi 20% and Vostilidi 20%) are ‘vinified following a philosophy of minimal intervention. A cool prefermentation maceration lasted for eight to ten hours to extract aromas and flavours. The free run musts and pressed musts were fermented separately with wild yeasts at controlled temperatures before spending one month on the fine lees with periodical stirring to impart texture and complexity. The wine was gently filtered prior to being bottled. The bottle was then submerged under fresh water in special tanks in the winery. This new method of maturation promotes constant temperatures, darkness, and a lack of oxygen, resulting in an aromatic wine, with a pure fruit character. This is a bone-dry and intriguing wine with a heady mix of iodine, peaty aromas, exotic fresh fruit, melon, and dried pear. Mouth-wateringly fresh on the palate with plenty of tension on the long finish.’