Ktima Apostolidi

GRAPE WRANGLER/S:

Efthimios Apostolidis

LOCATED IN:

Dialekto, Kavala, Thrace

LAND HELD:

160 stremmata

HOW HIGH:

60m - 200m

TERROIR TYPE:

clay loam, red soil & limestone

GRAPES GROWN:

malagouzia, vidiano, assyrtiko, agiorgitiko, karapapas, malvasia, sauvignon blanc

PRACTICE IS:

biodynamic (demeter), low-intervention

YEARLY BOTTLES:

60000

Our story begins in 1958 when Efthymios Apostolidis planted the first vineyard in Dialekto Kavala, on the foothills of the Macedonian mountain basin, on the border with the river Nestos and Thrace. Due to the difficulties of the time, wine production was rather amateurish. Until the year 1981, when his son, Ioannis Apostolidis, took over the vineyard. Thus in 2003 the vineyards encompassed an area of 3 hectares. A new page was turned in 2007, when a visitable state-of-the-art winery with a 10 hectare area was established. Soon the third generation of the winery, Vasiliki and Efthymios Apostolidis, took over the reins to the business. The winery started with new strict and qualitative goals with innovative methods in the vineyard and in the cellar. Today the 16 hectares of the family's vineyards are cultivated in a biodynamic way.

INNOVATION & DEVELOPMENT
For us, wine is a sum of different components that need to be researched, discovered and linked together. Connected to nature, nature challenges us to adapt to it, to take risks to constantly improve quality. We need the determination to try with persistence to discover nature and also ourselves.

So if we want to bring out the liveliness, freshness and precision in our wines in the future, we need to understand natural conditions and to try out different ingredients with respect to the environment.

BIODYNAMICS
Biodynamics (Greek Bios for life and Dinamikòs for movement) is a method employed for the renewal of agriculture that is based on the principles of anthroposophy. The Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner developed this view of the world and the humanity at the beginning of the 20th century. According to the anthroposophical view, a farm functions as an enclosed autonomous microcosm containing a variety of plants and animals. Even in a cultivated landscape, there is a closed system involving the soil, plants and nature. As a winery, the objective set by us is to preserve and develop this complex ecosystem and make it our ally.

UTILISING THE FORCES OF NATURE
We consider a vineyard as a living organism. Behind this lies a complex ecosystem, representing a microcosm in relationship to the macrocosm. By taking into account the rhythms and cycles of nature, i.e. cosmic influences like those of the sun, moon or stars, we can make use of their powers in our favour. This is the key for a successful agriculture, because this way we work with and not against nature. The 21st century's modern man often no longer sees nature's leaderships and has lost working knowledge that our forebears acquired through observation over the millennia.

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