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Kefallinos Verdea
Verdea is a traditional appellation of Zakynthos that reflects the Venetian influence on the island. The name references the apparent green colour of the grape juice as fields with many different varieties were harvested together and, as they all ripen at different times, the unripe/green grapes would give it a characteristic colour and the resulting wine a high acidity. This story is perhaps hard to square with the usual high alcohol content of the wines, which would suggest much riper grapes! Either way, high alcohol and high acidity were traditional ways of preserving wine before the invention of modern winemaking. The Kefallinos Verdea is certainly not co-vinified as a field blend, but rather each variety is fermented separately in old oak barrels (4-6 years-old) and a total of 16 separate barrels are used to make the final blend.
Lovely straw yellow gold colour. This oaked white has aromas of grass, peach blossom, with hints of green walnuts and golden plums. The palate is weighted with lots of concentrated white peach and citrus peel notes, reminiscent of Viognier. Its incredible acidity makes the alcohol almost incidental.
As low as
£26.00
Type: Dry White
Varietal Composition:
Region: PGI Zakynthos
Suitable for Vegetarians and Vegans
Kefallinos, Zakynthos, Ionian Islands
Dionysis Kefallinos’s first vintage was in 2018. He wanted to make wines with the indigenous grapes of his native Zakynthos using low intervention winemaking that would bring out the truest expressions of these varieties. Without formal training but having made wine with friends for years, he uses the island’s co-operative winery to make his own small cuvees of 1,000 – 3,000 bottles. The vineyards are all old, ungrafted bush-vines in very small parcels. In total he sources grapes from over 60 separate vineyards. The vines are pruned into 4 spurs, one for each point of the compass. Dionysis calls Zakynthos a ‘paradise’ for indigenous varieties with 25 that are only found on the island and many more that have come from further afield. This huge diversity is down to Zakynthos’s position at a crossroads of the Ionian sea that has seen Venetians, Normans, and mainland Greeks come through over the years, each leaving their footprint on the islands viticulture and winemaking. This is reflected in one of the traditional appellations of the island – Verdea – a Venetian name referencing the apparent green colour of the grape juice, reflecting the early picking of the grapes. All the Kefallinos wines are allowed to ferment naturally with their own yeasts and only very small additions of sulphur are made.
