Magoutes, Siatista, Macedonia

Although famous for its wines in the nineteenth century, the Siatista wine region in the north of Greece is now remote and relatively unknown. Magoutes Vineyard, previously known as Diamantis Winery, was established by the local Diamantis family with a focus on producing terroir-driven wines from indigenous varieties. Their work has concentrated on rescuing many abandoned old vineyards, as well as planting new vineyards from local cuttings to preserve the unique varietal and clonal heritage of the region. They have identified the ‘Magoutes’ area as an outstanding terroir consisting of rocky, limestone soils at high altitude, a steep gradient, and a southerly aspect, where they now have over 12ha of vineyards. Alongside Xinomavro, Dimitris Diamantis specialises in the Moshomavro grape, which is indigenous to Siatista, but had almost died out by the 1970s. The grape typically has light tannins and moderate acidity and was, until recently, mostly used to enhance other varieties, such as Xinomavro. Diamantis is currently the only producer to make a 100% Moshomavro wine. Magoutes practices low intervention in both the vineyard and the winery, producing wines of wonderful purity.