Alpha Estate – Axia 2017

Axia means "value" in Greek, and the name could hardly be more fitting, for in the Alpha Estate range this cuvée is the clever, uncomplicated, yet seriously made red wine at a modest price. For around €12 you get equal halves of Xinomavro and Syrah from the cool high plateau of Amyndeon in north-western Greece. Because the Syrah component rules out the PDO Amyndeon designation, which demands pure Xinomavro, the wine is bottled as PGI Florina. The idea behind it is clear: the Syrah brings dark fruit, pepper and body, the Xinomavro acidity, tannin, red fruit and the backbone for ageing. Amyndeon, often called Greece's Piedmont, ensures with its altitude, cool nights and limestone soils that a wine like this lives off freshness and structure rather than warmth alone, despite its good 14 percent alcohol.

The 2017 vintage in Amyndeon was dry and early, with hail in certain sites, but qualitatively strong, and Xinomavro and Syrah in particular ripened well. In the cellar the two varieties were fermented separately and only blended afterwards; the wine spent twelve months in Allier oak and then a further year in bottle, so it came onto the market not raw but already somewhat settled.

I have now known this wine over several years. In 2021 it convinced me all round, a fruit bomb with plenty of structure, 92 points back then and one of the best value-for-money offers I knew. In 2024 I was surprised by how fresh it still showed and how much potential seemed to be in it, a 90+, and I thought it would continue to improve over the next five years. Now, in 2026, however, I have to acknowledge that this is not the case.

On the nose it has plenty of raspberry, which clearly recalls the wine of earlier years, along with a touch of strawberry. On the palate the Xinomavro then stands out strongly with its structure, because the wine beneath it has noticeably flattened. So one feels one's way somewhat surprised along this Xinomavro through the mid-palate, marvels at the tannin and wonders whether there's something metallic resonating within. In the finish, in fact, only the acidity remains. Not much tertiary character is there yet, a little caramel, a hint of sage. The whole thing has fallen apart rather than come together, and so one should drink it now, for it won't get any better. For me that's 89 points.