Ktima Biblia Chora – Biblia Chora White 2025

The Biblia Chora white is the very first wine that Vangelis Gerovassiliou and Vassilis Tsaktsarlis bottled after founding the estate in 1998, the 2001 vintage, and it bears the estate's name with no further qualifier. Both men trained in Bordeaux, Tsaktsarlis under Denis Dubourdieu, and the estate itself describes this wine as the first Greek blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Assyrtiko. The 2025 puts 60 percent Sauvignon Blanc and 40 percent Assyrtiko in the glass, whereas my note on the 2020 still cited 50/50 – so the wine now carries more Sauvignon. It grows on Pangeon near Kokkinochori close to Kavala at around 380 meters, on stony, calcareous, loamy, well-draining soils, organically farmed and certified since 2020. After a brief skin contact of a few hours, it ferments cool and temperature-controlled in stainless steel, entirely without wood, and reaches 13.5 percent.

As a vintage, 2025 was a calm year on Pangeon, with a cold, rain-rich winter and, in July and August, a nighttime drop of 10 to 15 degrees despite daytime readings above 35 degrees, measured at the estate's own weather station. It is precisely this thermal swing that is the mechanism preserving aroma and freshness in such whites.

For me this is the most exotic vintage of this wine in a long time, with papaya and mango on the nose, which one might, with all due caution, attribute to the higher Sauvignon share. On the palate it then captivates first of all through its structure, a very fine interplay, good grip that unfolds in the mid-palate without overshadowing the attack. On the finish it flows, with an acidity that does not push itself to the fore and, precisely for that reason, makes it moreish.

This is a wine that already stands there extremely finished – no wonder I now encounter it in every Greek restaurant. This also fits the estate's recommendation to drink it in the first two years after the vintage. Anyone wanting something that needs more time to unfold must reach for the house's white Ovilos, the Sémillon-Assyrtiko, which I saw at 93+ in the 2020 vintage and at 95+ in 2022.

Monica Larner rated the 2025 in the Wine Advocate at 91 points, the 2024 at 90 and the 2023 at 89 – each vintage one point higher than the one before. The only predecessor I have recorded myself, the 2020, I had in the glass in 2021 with one year of bottle age at 91+; the 2025 is, for me, the best vintage of this wine to date. In Greece it costs 14.90 euros. For me these are 93 points.