Aflevering Forget Sweet Samos. Evmorfia Kostaki Makes Dry Muscat | Sparks 37

Samos is supposed to mean sweet dessert wine. Evmorfia Kostaki and her partner Lorenz Immerfall are trying to change that from a vineyard above Karlovasi that has been Muscat for more than a hundred years. The vineyard has been certified organic since 2000, the first organic vineyard on Samos. The vines are propagated by massal selection, cutting buds from the next terrace over, so the plant material is unique to this site. Evmorfia studied Chemistry at the University of Athens, then Viticulture and Oenology with Vinifera Euromaster between France, Italy and UC Davis. She picked up the WSET Diploma alongside the masters and is now in stage two of the Master of Wine programme. We taste three wines. The Prototype sparkling is traditional method but uses no commercial yeast or sugar. The 2023 base wine was aged in barrel for a year, then blended with actively fermenting must from the next vintage. That fermenting must brought its own sugar and its own indigenous yeast for the second fermentation. 500 bottles, all sold through their Greek distributor. The Kostaki Dry is the most complex wine in the range. Floral, Mediterranean herbal, faintly hazy. A touch of orange-wine grip on the gums even though it is a clean white. The Early Harvest is 9 percent alcohol with grapes picked early. Off-dry sweetness against sharp acidity creating tension. Closest in spirit to a Mosel Kabinett, but with a Greek herbal accent and a Muscat lineage. We also cover why Muscat does not get taken seriously, why organic farming on Samos is harder than on Santorini, the meltemi wind, gobelet bush vines as natural umbrellas, lightweight UV-protective brown bottles, screwcaps, women in Greek wine, and what the next five years of Samos winemaking could look like. The wines are not yet imported into the Netherlands. If you are an importer, this episode is your nudge. Kostaki Winery: kostakiwinery.gr Instagram: instagram.com/kostakiwinery VinoVonk: vinovonk.com In het Glas newsletter: vinovonk.com/nieuwsbrief Chapters 00:00 Why Samos is not just sweet wine 01:30 Welcome to Samos and Karlovasi 03:30 From chemistry to winemaking 06:00 The 100-year-old massal-selection vineyard 08:00 More rain than London, the climate of Samos 11:00 Why Muscat is so hard to grow well 14:00 Organic since 2000 17:00 Reductive winemaking, screwcap and lightweight bottles 19:30 The three styles of Muscat at Kostaki 22:00 Tasting Prototype Sparkling 26:00 Tasting Kostaki Dry 31:00 Tasting Early Harvest at 9% 35:00 Master of Wine, year five 38:00 Women in Greek Wine 41:00 The future of Samos and a call to Dutch importers 43:00 Where to find these wines