On the Greek island of Thasos the Phoenician´s brought the terraced culture from their homeland, to the western world. They recognized early these areas are kept very fertile by ashes and livestock manure. Abundant growth on red earth, a mineral treasure to be salvaged in terms of taste.
Historically, the terrace is not an invention of man, but of animals. It was the herbivores, who used the hanging areas as pastures, their hooves changed the ground like stairs.
Below the vineyards, about 150 m downhill, olive trees up to 2000 years old thrive, which, together with the pine trees, give off their ethereal scent during the day uphill. The natural rock formation has been altered in such a way that small basins have been filled with fine earth. The angled dry stone wall formation supports this soil, creating a new microclimate.
After we cleared the scrubby threshing floor, the subsoil made the landscape accessible as a pleasant vineyard. With every stone we added we performed the supporting function of the old wall and, although the lips were salty, we tasted the wine that would grow on them.
We understood the small window of the earth's history and with our work our gratitude increased. The identification with our wall and terrace is a process. Now do we understand the aesthetic pleasure, as well as the floristic and faunistic value. Wild bees, praying mantises, longhorn beetles, a multitude of different lizards and the shy snakes, live in this microcosm. A rediscovered treasure and now home to our new wine growing project in small series.
The soil samples taken in 2011 have shown that this soil has never been treated with mineral fertilisers, organic-biological cultivation is now a matter of course. Our vines, an interplay of six different Thasian grape varieties, a thousand in number, will drive their roots into the soil in the rainy Macedonian summer of 2014. A rare peculiarity, so the people from Megalos Prinos say. The ancient vineyard has the chance to gain new culture in the wilderness. The older our terraced structure becomes, the greater the biodiversity associated with it.
We are sure that the rust-red soil, the red iron rock and the content of minerals, give the vines and therefore the wine an honest and tasty note. Pretty close tho the gods.
