Domaine Karanika, Amyndeon, Macedonia

Domaine Karanika was founded by Laurens M. Hartman-Karanika and his wife Annette van Kampen who left their lives in Holland to train as winemakers, oenologists, and vineyardists in Europe and the USA. However, it was their love for the amazing Xinomavro variety that led them to Amyndeo in northwest Greece. Domaine Karanika works in harmony with nature to produce top quality wines and their organic vineyards on the Amyndeon plateau are home to old Xinomavro vines (75-80 years old), as well as younger Assyrtiko, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Limniona vines. Karanika’s winemaking philosophy is one of minimal intervention in viticulture and vinification. The winery also works with nature not against it; using gravity and pigeage instead of pumping to transport the must and wines. They add only Montmorillonite clay to clarify the wine and use homeopathic sprays in the vineyard instead of pesticides in the vineyard. Karanika works according to Maria Thun’s biodynamic calendar both in the winery and vineyard, therefore the wines ‘breathe terroir’, are crystal clear, intensely aromatic, and have considerable length on the palate. Domaine Karanika have established themselves as the pre-eminent traditional-method sparkling wine producers of Greece and have gained considerable international recognition too.