Wine Routes
Nea Anchialos (D.O.S.Q.)
In 1969 a new reality created in the wine world. The admission of Greece into the European community has created the need for a national framework harmonized with EU law which respects and promotes the bottled wine. By laws passed in 1971-72 Greece acquired areas designation.
Areas that historically had wine production and active by then vineyards joined the new classification system and partially evaluating and Designations of Origin of Superior Quality (D.O.S.Q.) created.
The scheme provided that these areas would produce wines from local varieties and only with certain conditions such as yield, alcohol content, cultivation techniques, etc.Nea Anchialos was defined as the unique region of Thessaly, which can generate white wine named D.O.S.Q.
Referring to Nea Anchialo, we also mean Mikrothives, Aidinio, Krokio because they are included in the area covered by this name. In appellation Anchialos there is Roditis variety which can be complemented by the Savatiano variety in percentage less than 20%.
At this moment the rights for wine production labeled D.O.S.Q. have only "Cooperative Anchialou" and Dimitris Timplalexis. We must also mention the efforts of Apostolakis Family to produce organic wines from the vineyard of Krokio.
The speciality of Nea Anchialos
What gives this special character to Anchialos wine?
The answer is directly related to the proximity of the vineyards to the sea which so readily occurs only in the islands and especially in Santorin's vineyards. Anchialos vineyard is predominantly lowland, referring to altitudes that rarely reach 200 feet, while a part of the vineyards goes down where the water begins.
Thanks to the 'cohabitation' of vineyards to the sea we meet a particular feature and that is the presence of nerve, something inconceivable in wine with low alcohol content and a similar intense dryness that is not found in other wines.
Explicit report of this peculiarity is made from Timplalexi in a wine called "Kokarella." In ancient Fthiotides Thebes the main materials for vessel production were shells named Kokarelles. It is indeed unusual phenomenon to meet Marine element in a vineyard and this is evident from the existence of hundreds of shells (Kokarelles) in arable land especially in Mikrothives.