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 Limnos, one of the northernmost Aegean islands, has a winemaking tradition extending back to ancient times. The island was home to a storied cultivar called Limniá, known in modern times as Limnió or Kalabaki. As recently as the arrival of Phylloxera on the island in 1892, Limnio and other red varieties accounted for semisweet wines of good repute among European travelers. Replanting focused on Moschato Alexandrias, a variety not highly regarded generally, but which, on low-lying Limnos, produces sweet wines of notable quality (and greater profitability for growers). There are currently two commercial producers on Limnos. The local cooperative, representing the bulk of the island's growers, has been creating a variety of wines from Moschato Alexandrias since 1958. Cash-strapped, but inventive, the cooperative also produces a dry red from Limnió and have recently introduced a clever blend of Moschato Alexandrias and Santoriniote Asyrtiko that displays both eminence and backbone. The near-universal low elevation of Limniote vineyards limits the achievement of favorable acid levels. Petros Honas, a former Boutari enologist, began a small boutique winery on the island in 1994. Determined to compensate for lack of elevation by careful vineyard selection and low-yield farming, Honas has now opened a new winery and produces two wines, Filoni and Illioni, under his Kyathos label. Both are dry versions of Moschato Alexandrias, the latter an elegant and flavorful wine from free-run juice. |
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