2023 Aristotelis Ke Anthoula Mandarin

WINEMAKER: Tony Zafirakos & Maddie Park-Neilson
REGION: South Pambula, NSW
VARIETY: Vermentino, Greco
VITICULTURE: Organic

This wine used to be called ‘Orange’. Due to the existence of Orange NSW, now no wine made from grapes outside of this region is allowed to describe itself as being of that colour. This is our most complex orange wine. And by orange we’re talking about the bright golden orange hue of this special liquid, not the town.

On first sip it’s immediately bright and zippy, loaded with tingles of stone fruit and citrus, finishing with firm but well integrated tannins evoking peach and lemon iced tea. This wine was crafted with multiple picks and ferments thanks to the long, cool growing season, allowing us to capture a range of ripeness levels. Partially fermented in amphora, all destemmed for 5-6 months then pressed to old oak and bottled the following year just after vintage 2024.

Aristotelis Ke Anthoula started as a family pastime. Having migrated from rural greece in the early 80s, Aristotelis and Anthoula longed for the feeling of home so they started making their own wine in a garage in the beachside suburbs of Sydney. From the beginning, all their wines were made entirely by hand (and foot) using only grapes, with no additives, no filtration or fining and no pumps or machinery.

All fruit is hand harvested and farmed with care. Our wines are still crafted from grapes alone with the aid of very little machinery. They are carefully made by hand and laboriously fussed over to extract maximum flavour and ensure they are high quality and stable. Natural, wild yeasts are used for fermentation, and there are no chemicals or preservatives added at any time. All of our wines are unfiltered and unfined and to this day we have never added (nor had a need for adding) any sulphur to our wines.