Why it matters
The producer
In 1997, viticulturist Makis Mavridis and Bordeaux-trained chemist-oenologist Angelos Iatridis founded Alpha Estate on the Amyndeon plateau in northwestern Macedonia, staking the entire project on a single holding. Where most Greek wine regions are built from fragmented small plots scattered among many growers, Alpha Estate owns its 220 hectares outright, giving the founders complete control over farming decisions from soil to cellar. The plateau sits between 620 and 710 metres above sea level, high enough to extend the growing season and keep acidity in the grapes long after they have reached full colour.
Today the founders' daughters, Angeliki Iatridou and Emorfili Mavridou, continue the work, carrying forward the same integrated approach to viticulture and winemaking.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Amyndeon is a PDO appellation in the far northwest of Greece, surrounded by mountains and fed by two lakes whose proximity moderates summer heat and introduces persistent northwesterly winds during the growing season. The altitude, between 620 and 710 metres on the plateau, keeps the air cool even in July and August, slowing ripening and preserving freshness in both Xinomavro and Assyrtiko. PDO Amyndeon is one of Greece's more northerly appellations, and its combination of lake influence, elevation, and continental climate gives it a character quite different from the sun-baked islands most associated with Greek wine.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Vines across the estate are planted at 5,900 vines per hectare. Harvest is done entirely by hand. To determine when each vineyard block has reached optimal ripeness, the team uses satellite surveillance monitored by smartphone, allowing block-by-block harvest decisions rather than a single sweep across the estate.
Sixty-five per cent of the winery's energy comes from solar power. Temperature control in the cellar relies on an underground design that uses stable earth temperatures rather than continuous mechanical cooling. The Assyrtiko Single Block Aghia Kiriaki, grown in the Amyndeon zone at 535 metres, undergoes skin contact fermentation with indigenous yeasts and extended lees ageing, a method that adds texture and aromatic complexity to the variety's naturally high acidity and citrus character.
Wines to know
The range in view
Alpha Estate's range centres on Xinomavro and Assyrtiko, the two grapes that show the most distinctly at Amyndeon's altitude and latitude. The Hedgehog Xinomavro is the estate's most decorated red, a single-parcel bottling that earned Gold at Mundus Vini from the 2022 vintage. The Barba Yannis is rarer still: Xinomavro from the 1919 ungrafted block, a wine shaped by vine age and pre-phylloxera genetics as much as by any cellar method.
On the white side, the Assyrtiko Single Block Aghia Kiriaki is 100% Assyrtiko, fermented on skins with indigenous yeasts and aged on lees. Where most Greek Assyrtiko comes from Santorini's volcanic soils, this bottle places the variety on a high-altitude continental plateau, which shifts the aromatic profile toward citrus and white stone fruit rather than the saline minerality of island examples.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
The Hedgehog Xinomavro introduces the estate's red wine range most directly. It is a single-parcel Xinomavro grown at Amyndeon altitude, where the long cool season develops the variety's characteristic acidity and herb-edged red fruit. Xinomavro is native to northern Greece and shares structural traits with Nebbiolo: high tannin, high acidity, and an aromatic register that leans toward dried red fruit and savoury notes rather than the dark richness of warmer-climate reds. The 2022 Hedgehog earned Gold at both Mundus Vini and USA Wine Ratings, giving the bottle an external reference point for quality, but the wine is worth finding for the way it shows what Amyndeon's altitude does to a tannic Greek red.