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Winemaker's Note
A youthful wine with a powerful and rich character, on the nose the 2012 Dyo Elies offers rich aromas of oak and spices, enhanced with herbal notes, while the palate shows volume, a velvety mouthfeel and a warm feeling coming from the alcohol, complemented by a delicious aftertaste.
Varieties
Syrah 60%, Merlot 30%, Xinomavro 10%
Production
n/a
Ageing
12-15 years
Cellaring
16 months in 225 lt French and American oak casks – further ageing in bottle for another six months
Origin
Selected blocks (#19, 32, 23 & 15) of the Naoussa vineyards at Kir-Yianni Estate
Food Pairing
An extraordinary wine for fine culinary assortments. Pairs ideally with red meats cooked in spicy red sauces, pork with dried fruits, oven-roasted lamb, pasta with rich meat sauces and yellow matured cheeses.
Analytical Data
Deep ruby in colour, on the nose the wine shows a pungent character composed of peppers, caramel and chocolate notes emerging over a background of ripe red fruits and smoke. The palate is full, showing volume, a rich structure and a lip smacking freshness that creates a lingering, spicy finish
The Kir-Yianni Estate vineyards in the PDO Naoussa zone are located at an altitude of 120-280 m on the Eastern foothills of Mt Vermio. The appellation's microclimate is marked by abundant precipitation during the winter and spring and moderate drought during the summer. The site spans over rolling hills with medium to high slopes and panoramic exposure. Its soil type is a mixed limestone ranging from clay to loam and sandy loam. Due to this diversity and complexity of the site the vineyards are established in 42 separate blocks –each one with its own particular characteristics and viticultural practices. At the heart of the Estate three soil types and varieties meet: Syrah thrives on the low-pH sandy loam of block#19, Merlot on the loamy limestone of block #32, and the indigenous Xinomavro shows its best on the clay limestone of block #15. All three blocks share moderate slopes facing southeast, while row orientation ranges from Northeast to East. A double vertical shoot positioning trellis and a generous vine spacing of 3,500-4,000 per hectare are in place for optimal vigor & canopy management. The resulting yield is 60 hectoliters per hectare.
The winemaking objective for Dyo Elies is to highlight the characteristics of each variety and then create a unique wine through their blending. Merlot offers the full body, Syrah adds the spice with a velvety aftertaste and last, but not least, Xinomavro gives a twist with its complex bouquet and structure. Harvest dates are different for each variety starting from the end of August for Merlot to the mid and end of September for Syrah and Xinomavro respectively. Grapes are hand-picked and manually selected on a sorting table prior to crush. For each variety, and during the first week after crush, the must is cold soaked at 11-12°C in a reductive environment. Temperatures gradually rise for the fermentation to take place at 29-30°C for Merlot, which also undergoes a post-fermentation maceration for a few days. In contrast, the temperature for Syrah is maintained at 22-24°C throughout the fermentation and as soon as it is over the malolactic fermentation is initiated in new oak. Xinomavro ferments at 22°C in open-top tanks without pump-overs to avoid the overheated tannin extraction, which used to be very common in the local traditional wines. Instead, a monitored hydraulic pigeage allows an early and refined phenolic optimum leading to the removal of grape skins with a pneumatic wine press well before the end of fermentation. Following fermentation the wines are aged separately in French and American 225-lt oak casks. About 30% of the barrels in the cellar are renewed each year.
