Grammenos Family and the Bad Harvest Wine
Based on the Ionian island of Corfu, the Grammenos Family launched its winery in the late 1980s, before the Corfu PGI (est. 1996) even existed! The family has vineyards in several locations on Corfu including the village of Sinarades, about 2 km from the winery, as well as in Skafonas, Korakas, and Vouni on the west of the island, at an altitude of 250-300 meters. They grow several varieties but one of their main grapes is Corfu native, Kakotrygis.
Κακoτρυγης (Kakotrygis) gets transliterated in several ways. I’ve seen it as both Kakotrygis and Kakotrigis, but it can also apparently be spelled: Kako Tryghi, Kakotriguis, Kakotriki, and Kakotryghis. Κακό (kako) means ‘bad’ and τρυγής* (trigis) means ‘harvest.’ The grape earned its name because the stems are hard making harvesting the grapes quite difficult. It is early-ripening and susceptible both to downy mildew and insect bites. Kakotrygis can accumulate high sugar levels and develop quite intense flavors, but apparently few producers really let the grapes hang that long because of the insect issues.
There’s not a lot of info out there about this one. It seems like it’s pretty specific to Corfu and that even there production is low.
Grammenos Family Kakotrygis, 2018
Medium lemon short through with green in the glass. The nose was initially reminiscent of lemon blossom and candied lemon peel. As it spent time in the glass it found new depths and richness with Asian pear and bergamot. Flavors reflective of the nose burst on the tongue and left behind the delightful flavor of old-fashioned lemon drop candies. Medium-bodied with moderate alcohol (12% abv) and medium acidity.
A very pretty wine I would happily drink again!
*Fun fact!!! While reading about this grape and looking up the the word ‘harvest’ to make sure I was spelling it correctly, I learned that ‘τρυγής’ is specifically a grape harvest! A τρυγητής (trigitis) or τρυγήτρια (trigitira) is a grape harvester, and τρυγώ (trigo) means ‘to harvest (grapes)’. Mad respect for a language that has an entirely different vocabulary specially for grape harvesting.