IGP Pella Roditis Maison Viticole Ktima Ligas 2020

Roditis Mason de Ligas, organic white wine from Pella, Greece, Natural wine, low sulphur, outstanding flavours, unique wine. 100% Roditis from Ligas, a superb young Greek wine producer making fabulous natural wines in the Pella region. The 100% Roditis wine made from the indigenous grape of the Pella is a wine that intrigues the palate. The variety was highly valued in ancient Greece due its ability to ripen late whilst maintaining its acidity. It was very susceptible to the Phylloxera that swept Europe in the 19th century and its plantings hugely decreased. This natural wine from Roditis has lovely nutty, mango and exotic fruit aromas and flavours with subtle resinous notes and underlying earthiness. This is an amazing wine for washed rind cheese and richer fish and white meat dishes.

Since ancient times, the region of Pella in the Peloponnese, situated in northern Greece, was associated with wine making and described as the mother of wine, where vines abound.

Jason Ligas and his Sister Meli continued the work of their Father Thomas and set about turning the normally dull Roditis grape into something very special. By converting to natural farming in the 80s after following the ideas set out by a renowned Japanese Masanobu Fukuoka (1913-2008) whose approach to agriculture was called, ‘do nothing'. Fukuoka – whose philosophy has been described as ‘Steiner without cow horns’ – was a Japanese researcher in plant pathology who subsequently became an experimental farmer and promoter of natural farming. At Ligas by reducing the yield he was able to express the terroir and show the potential of their indigenous grapes that are normally over cropped and used for cheap jug wine. The soils are loamy, sand with very good drainage and the natural environment is expressed in his 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!'