Domaine de Kalathas, Tinos, Aegean Islands

In 2011, Jerome Charles Binda, a former graphic designer and art dealer in France, decided to move to Tinos and become a winemaker. His focus was on the extraordinary potential he sensed in Tinian heritage grapes and vineyards, of indigenous varieties such as Rozaki, Aspro and Mavro Potamisi, Koumariano, and Kondoura, all of which are ‘franc-de-pied’ and some up to 200 years old. He became committed to producing the finest expression of the island’s granitic, non-phylloxera, sandy terroir, and he employed manual techniques in both the vineyard and the cellar. Following his intuition and helped by family and friends, he aimed to produce a rich selection of natural wines. Organic-certified, he is building his own interpretation of biodynamic wine with patience and humility, according to the specificity of the Tinos biotope. An obstinate pursuit of healthy and self-sustaining grapes in the vineyard is followed by low-intervention winemaking in the cellar: All the grapes are hand-picked and hand-sorted meticulously. The grapes are foot-trod before gentle vertical pressing, whole-cluster maceration, and little temperature control. There are no oenological corrections and no inputs whatsoever, including sulphur. The wines are exclusively self-fermented grape juice and are not fined or filter before bottling. Domaine de Kalathas produces white, rosé, orange, light red, and deep red wines, fermented and aged in stainless-steel vats, while also experimenting with small cuvées in different types of clay vessels. Total production is under 10,000 bottles.