The X Factor - Vintage Berkeley
The X Factor.


The wild mountains of Naoussa, Greece: home to Thymiopoulos

2019 Thymiopoulos
'Young Vines'
Xinomavro


Only $22! Buy here!
Only $20 on 6! Buy here!

And, Ridiculously?
For a Brief Time?

Only $18 on 12!

(Yes! That's the Best Price in California!)
Get Your Case here!


TL;DR: Like Pinot Noir? Love Nebbiolo? Wanna walk on the wild side? Bam! Get into the X-Factor and try organic, high-altitude Xinomavro from one of the most esteemed producers in Greece! (Not to mention one of wine critic Jancis Robinson's most consistently top-rated wines!)  This is an odds-on favorite for your most unexpected favorite red of 2021... and it will cellar for years, gorgeously! What's more? This is the best price in California by far!


Will you, um, trust us? Because it's time you took a leap! Cheat on the grapes you already know (and know how to pronounce)... and walked on the wild side! Leave the ABC's behind, and get on with the X Factor: Xinomavro. (You've got this! Ksee-NOH-mah-vroh.)

Despite being one of the most ancient, continuously producing wine cultures in the world (why hello there, Georgia! Yes, we see you, too!)? There persists the odd notion that Greek wine is an “emerging” wine market.

Nothing's further from the truth! As ancient as they are urgent, these are wines you need in your life. And if there’s a single Greek red that's truly ready for its star turn? A wine prepared to do battle with Piedmontese Nebbiolos at 2-3x the price? It's Xinomavro sourced from the mountainous northern region of Naoussa, Macedonia.



A literal dark horse... in the vineyard of our favorite of all vinous dark horses

Naoussa is called "the Barolo of Greece" for a reason, and the best of its Xinomavro yields wines that sit squarely between Burgundian finesse on the one hand — one somm compared it favorably to Chambolle-Musigny! — and a sexy Piedmontese grip on the other.

And one of the greatest producers in Naoussa is unquestionably Thymiopoulos, a family-owned winery that's been among the region's leading lights for generations. Currently helmed by the young and indefatigable Apostolos, who's presided over its conversion to certified organic and biodynamic farming, the wines have never been better....


The X Man himself: Apostolos Thymiopulos

.. and his "Young Vines" cuvée is known to us wine-world insiders as one of the single greatest values in all of Old World wine. Jancis Robinson (she's only the editor of the Oxford Companion to Wine and wine advisor to the Queen!) singled it out as one of the most consistently over-performing wines, from any region, that she reviewed in the past decade! She went on to write,

"What I like about this wine is its beguiling (but not at all simple) raspberry fruit on the nose and front palate, and then the way it finishes with a slightly astringent note of cinders. It’s not unlike Nebbiolo in build. And the Young Vines clearly has quite a bit of aging potential, too!"




In the glass it's simply gorgeous: pellucid and ruby-hued. The nose is complex, with notes of dark plum, black raspberry, and red cherry surfacing above its black mineral drive — it's thought that Apostolos's biodynamic farming allows the grapes to express their rocky granite & black schist terroir to the max.

But as serious a wine as this is for the price, with its deep black mineral notes, and its anise-inflected red fruits? And as great a pairing partner to everything coming off your grill this summer? (Lamb chops, meet thy apotheosis: his name is Apostolos!) It's also just lip-smackingly gulpable, too! (The other night we put a chill on it, and one of our geekiest wine-friends was stone-cold enraptured, describing it as the "love child of Cru Beaujolais and Barbaresco." She's not wrong!)

Looking for quite possibly the best, most versatile case of summer session reds around? (At a price that may be the historical low in California?) Look no further, and get into the X Factor while we've got it! 


2019 Thymiopoulos
'Young Vines' Xinomavro


Only $22! Buy here!
Only $20 on 6! Buy here!
And only $18 on 12! Buy here!

(Case up! That's the lowest price by far in CA!)