Assyrtiko Barrique Ligas 2020

Assyrtiko Barrique Ligas, natural wine, skin maceration, Clay, Limestone, Schist soils, 15 mg/l of total sulphur.  This unique wine spent a week macerating on the skins before going into a barrel for one year.  The result is an intense and characterful brew of wild exotic spices and mature fruits, with a savoury kick, notes of ginger root, lightly oxidative characters and dried orange.  This is a complex and powerful orange wine, now mature and showing incredible depth and complexity.  The label features the beautiful Maria Callas, the famous soprano from Greece whose later life has been imortalised by Angelina Jolie in the film, Maria.  Try this wine with spicy fish dishes, grilled squid, or seafood risotto.

Since ancient times, the region of Pella, situated in northern Greece, not far from the border with Macedonia was associated with wine making and described as the mother of wine, where vines abound.

Jason Ligas and his Sister Meli continue the work of their Father Thomas and have succeeded in turning the normally dull Roditis grape into something very special.  Thomas Ligas converted to natural farming in the 80s after following the ideas set out by renowned Japanese farmer and philosopher Masanobu Fukuoka (1913-2008).  Fukuoka's approach to agriculture was called, ‘do nothing'.  He was a Japanese researcher in plant pathology who subsequently became an experimental farmer and promoter of natural farming.  His philosophy has also been described as ‘Steiner without cow horns’ 

Thomas Ligas followed Fukuoka's teachings.  By reducing the yield of his grapes through natural farming, he was able to express the terroir and show the grapes potential.  The soils are loamy-sand with very good drainage.  The natural environment is expressed in Ligas' stunningly fresh and complex white wines.  The reds are pretty rare and only made in good years but are also wines to be savoured. The wines all carry a unique personality and expressive aroma which we have come to call 'The Ligas Nose!'