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Afianes Wines – Ikaria
Afianes Wines are surely not a stranger to the wine connoisseurs around the globe. The now famous winemaker Mr. Afianes, begun as a pharmacist who decided to get involved with wine as a scientific experiment and a knowledge quest at first; he wanted to prove his friends wrong concerning the so-called benefits of Ikarian wine to longevity, for which the island, as part of the Blue Zones , is famous. Two PhD’s later he actually proved them right as he found many health benefits to the traditional wine making processes.
Ikarian wine was considered as a premium product in ancient Greece and it is mentioned by many authors of the time, including Homer. “Pamnian” wine, meaning the wine produced below mount Pramnos in Ikaria was a type of wine in ancient Greece, however the Pramnian wine which was actually produced in Ikaria was written differently as a means to protect its authenticity – like an ancient protected designation of origin (PDO) system.
AFIANES Wines belong to the category of natural wines, while all the vines of the 60 hectares estate which produces 12000-13000 wine bottles per year, are certified organic. The winery produces wine in two ways; one is through the ancient traditional process, where grapes are pressed manually by foot in a traditional stone wine press and then stored in underground crocks buried in the outdoors for the completion of the alcoholic fermentation. The other is modern, as AFIANES Wines have one of the most up-to-date underground wineries in Greece. Although modern, even in this method the key principles for AFIANES Wines stay the same, as industrial wine yeast or wine correctors are out of the question for this natural wine label. The first method accounts only for 20-30% of the production, while the rest is produced through the modern one.
The people behind Afianes believe that the gentler one is towards nature, the richer and fuller products they will receive and they actually turn this philosophy into action.
We could not be happier they are part of our producers network!
