Monsieur Nicolas – Moi Je M'en Fous! Aged Amphora 2024

Giorgos Karamitros is the fourth generation to run the Monsieur Nicolas estate in Messenikolas in Thessaly. In 1990 he took over the family business from his parents Giannis and Giannoula, and in 2000 the modern winery was added. The village lies in the Agrafa mountains near Lake Plastiras, the vineyards sit at just under 700 metres, the harvest is done by hand, and the vines are dry-farmed. The name of the range, "Moi, je m'en fous!", simply means "I couldn't care less!", and according to the house's own account a French nobleman named Monsieur Nicolas is said to have come to the area in 1455, which gave the village its name. In the design of the Aged line the figure of the series ages, three ancestral portraits stand for four generations, the decoration sits directly on the Burgundy bottle, together with red sealing wax.

In the glass is a varietal Limniona from the 2024 vintage, aged in amphora, an experiment by the house. At 12.5 percent it is a light wine. It is classified as PGI Karditsa, and that is no demotion. A varietal Limniona does not fit into PDO Messenikola at all, since that requires Mavro Messenikola blended with Carignan and Syrah. I tasted it in September 2026 directly alongside the Aged Limnionas 2023 from wood (89 points, 13 percent).

For Karditsa there is no separate vintage rating for 2024; nationally the vintage stands at 6.5 out of 10 and thus exactly at the Greek median. In Greece 2024 was an extremely hot and dry vintage that clearly put the red varieties ahead of the whites and produced a powerful, tannic, high-alcohol style of red. This wine is far removed from that picture.

On the nose it is downright prototypical for Limniona. On the palate, the entry brings cherry aromas joined by plenty of very dark, even bitter cherry, which is then replaced by a surprisingly bloody aroma. The finish is surprisingly long. It lacks the acidity to truly live up to Limniona's reputation as the Greek Pinot Noir – but I also believe that is a mistaken understanding of this wine. It is more of an equivalent to Lemberger. A really good example in a beautiful bottle, fresh, a wine you really cannot fault.

The 2023 from wood is by comparison the distinctly more serious wine, also with a touch more complexity, but with markedly less drive. The amphora accordingly has distinctly more drive.

Among the varietal red Limnionas in my notes, the amphora sits at the lower end with 90 points, on a par with the Zafeirakis Young Vineyards 2020, and below it lies only its wood brother from 2023. The Zafeirakis Terra Cotta 2020, likewise aged in amphorae, and the Oenops Limniona 2020, which apart from the wood brother is the only other one made from Karditsa grapes, each reached 93 points in 2023. With this, Lemberger appears in my notes for the first time. Beyond the variety itself, I have so far compared a Limniona only once, when I reckoned the Young Vineyards capable of even taking on Beaujolais.

For me this is 90 points.