The vineyards of Mantinia

Mantinia vineyards

Cultivated on a plateau at altitudes of around 650 meters, the vineyards of Mantinia occupy Peloponnese’s heartland of mountainous and semi-mountainous terroirs. It is here that the colored variety of Moschofilero ripens quite late, usually at some point in mid-October, yielding low-alcohol, white (blanc-de-gris), intensely aromatic wines. The old vineyards (over 40-50 years old), feature dry cultivations densely planted and trained into goblets. However, most of the newer vineyards have linear plantings, are cordon-trained bilaterally and have a density of 1,200 to 1,800 vine stocks per acre. The vines cover an area of approximately 2,500 acres and are found mainly on flat or hilly terrain of sandy loam. The vineyards of Mantinia are in one of Greece’s coldest vinegrowing zones where, quite frequently, adverse weather conditions in the autumn—such as protracted periods of precipitation—can often have a negative impact on the quality of the yields.