KTIMA TSELEPOS | Amalia | Vintage | 2017
moschofilero

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Today we are going to review a very special and quite unique sparkling wine that is rightly considered to be one of the best crémant wines that comes out of Greece – Amalia Vintage 2017 by Ktima Tselepos. This is an extra brut, single-vintage sparkling wine (the so-called millésime sparkling wine, which means that it was created from a single harvest, that of 2017), made out only with moschofilero grapes, that were sourced from vines planted on 750-meters altitude on clay and stone-rich soils near the Mount Parnon in Arcadia sub-region (to be more precise, in the Mantineia DOC of Peleponnese) and produced using the authentic traditional method (méthode traditionelle) technique, the same way the famous french Champagne is made. After the second fermentation in the bottle, the wine spent 48 months on fine lees (sur lie ageing) – a winemaking technique that adds creaminess and extra complexity on the palate and enriches the wine’s flavour profile with nuanced leesy and yeasty notes. But enough theory, that said and without further ado, let’s move on straight to the tasting results.
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

//Visual
color: straw yellow color
clarity: pastel yellow hues

//Olfactory
intensity: rich & elegant
fruit profile: green fruits | citrus fruits
__green fruits: pear | quince | apple | wild pear
__citrus fruits: lemon | white grapefruit | passion fruit | lemon peel
fruit character: ripe

//Flavor
non fruit: floral | herbal | leesy
__floral: citrus blossom | jasmine
__herbal: meadow | lemongrass | marguerite daisy
__leesy: bisquit | brioche | crème brûlée | panna cotta
primary layer: fruity-leesy

//Palate
sweetness: bone dry
acidity: high
alcohol: medium+
tannin: low
__grip: fine
balance: good
__dominant: acidity
body: lean | medium+

//Taste
fruit profile: green fruits & citrus
fruit character: ripe
non fruit: lees & yeast
finish: medium+
aftertaste: velvety-crisp

//Scoring
KTIMA TSELEPOS | Amalia | Vintage | 2017
variety: moschofilero
country: Greece | Peleponnese
region: Arcadia | Mantineia
rating: 94.0

//Conclusion
maturity: developing | drink now or age for 3 to 5 years
verdict: great | a must try wine
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This is definitely a great wine of Greece and with a total of 94.0 points scored, this wine is right there, among the best wines we’ve rated so far. Check our complete database on the wine rating page, where you can find all the wines that we have tasted and reviewed or go to the about us page and find out more about our exquisite rating system.

Verdict: this is a very zesty, lean and refreshingly crisp sparkling wine, that is still in its development phase, thus one that can be enjoyed today or within the next 3 to 5 years. It has a pronounced fruity-yeasty profile on the nose and feels well structured and zingy, with some hints of future elegance on the palate. On the nose the wine displays a mixture of ripe green fruits and citrus in the foreground, supported by some very appealing, leesy-yeasty notes of brioche, bisquit and crème brûlée in the background. On the palate the wine delivers mouth-watering acidity and a well integrated alcoholic warmth on the mouthfeel, which all leads to an appealingly-crisp aftertaste. All in all this is a very fine and round crémant wine, with a smooth and plush palate, that reminds us of those famous Champagne or Crémant d’Alsace bubbles. On our memory, this is one of the best, traditional method sparkling wines that we have tasted so far – you can really taste that subtle elegance in your glass. We believe it will pair lovely with rich seafood dishes, like for example with pan fried mahi mahi fillets or oven baked salmon. Enjoy!

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