Ktima Ligas

Even though Greece was a centre for winemaking for centuries, like virtually all wine-making countries in Europe, the phylloxera epidemic wiped out nearly all the vineyards there. When replanting began, many traditional varieties fell from favour and were replaced with international grapes. At the same time, industrial farming replaced time-honoured methods and hundreds of years of winemaking tradition began to be erased.

In the early 80’s, near Thessaloniki in Pella, winemaker Thomas Ligas began a quest to revive both the traditional varieties and traditional agricultural practices of the region. He did a deep dive into the local ecosystem and began exploring biodynamic farming. He searched far and wide for cuttings of nearly extinct varieties and began his own grafting nursery.

Ktima Ligas was founded in 1985 and embraced organics and permaculture from the start– eschewing all chemicals and additives while encouraging native plants to grow at will. He foraged the nearby mountains for herbs and plants to make herbal treatments with captured rain water to nurture his precious Roditis, Kydonitsa, Xinomavro and Limniona vines.

Creating great wines from these dismissed grapes was his singular focus, despite resistance from all directions. His daughter, and current Ligas winemaker Meli explains, “The local varieties were unfashionable at the time; these were varieties that Greek people didn’t want to work with. It wasn’t considered ‘knowledgeable’ to use them. Everyone else was working with Merlot, Cab, Chardonnay or Pinot!” The Greek government also supported these trendier varieties with subsidies, further pushing growers away from tradition.

But Thomas stood firm and forged a new path for the nearly forgotten grapes, maximising their potential through natural farming and reduced yields. He made only four cuvées, one from each grape, as he felt the best way to present these grapes and express the terroir was to not blend varieties or plots. His wines slowly but surely gained attention, and eventually he could not keep up with demand and the popularity of these once-overlooked grapes rose to the point that other winemakers began asking to visit the domaine to take cuttings to propagate their own vines.

In those early days Thomas had little to spend on winemaking, so he embraced natural methods to achieve his goals. Instead of buying enzymes and yeasts, he simply used longer macerations to naturally extract these elements from the skins of the grapes. He skipped pricey sprays, and instead worked to increase the biodiversity in his vineyards, ultimately reducing problems naturally. He also had no need for filtration equipment or added sulphites.

Meli Ligas grew up trailing her father among the vines and into the forest, and was destined to join in his quest. Thomas, Meli and Jason (Meli’s brother) worked together for many years, expanding the range of wines while maintaining the vision. Meli has now taken the reigns, and the vineyards continue to thrive under her watchful eye and the wines reflect her innovative spirit and dedication to local grapes. She has planted additional sites, created new cuvées and fine-tuned the winemaking methods with regard to each vintage, parcel and grape.

“Every Ligas wine comes from its own designated parcel: with vines ranging from around seven years old up to over forty, and soil types that vary from schist to clay-limestone.”

This diversity is what Meli enjoys exploring, and she believes maceration is the key. Aside from the cuvée Pata Trava, which is made in a blanc de noirs style via direct press, all of the domaine’s wines all undergo a period of maceration on the skins – ranging from two to five days for the whites to 45 days for the intense red Bucephale Xinomavro. All skin contact is done as an infusion to limit extraction and maximise freshness and most grapes are destemmed. After maceration, the juice is sent by gravity into a vessel where it cools, relaxes and begins a natural ferment. Meli uses special temperature controlled stainless steel tanks with an incline at the bottom for maximum skin contact, and only takes the first jus de goutte – she insists the jus de presse lacks sufficient quality.

“Everything depends on how you make the skin contact. If it’s one month in barrels, or amphorae, or steel, it reveals very different identities.”

Meli enlisted a local ceramicist to make amphorae for the maceration of her Kydonitsa, using clay from the nearby Atlas mountains. The porous clay helps extract more of the grape’s minerality and maximises aromatics. Meli says, “After 12 years of tasting with different types of amphorae, we have the ones we need!”

For ageing, the vessel used depends on the grape and parcel. Stainless steel is used to heighten the expression of the Roditis Pella and Assyrtiko Lamda cuvées, but the Roditis Barrique and Assyrtiko Barrique wines use old wood barrels to create a more complex version of those same grapes from different sites.

Although Assyrtiko is world-renowned as the top white Greek grape, Ligas is particularly well-known for bringing Roditis back to the forefront. “Roditis is the main variety in Greece, but normally it’s used in blends for massive production, simply for quantity. But my father always wanted to work with it on its own. Roditis is quite a ‘low profile wine’ — it doesn’t have much acidity, but it does have minerality. Clay and limestone soils give freshness to the juice. It’s all about how you grow the vines…. It can give something smooth, generous in the mouth, and spicy on the nose, with that minerality and even subtle floral aromas.”

Three red indigenous varieties are another passion. Ximomavro is the grape that makes Meli’s eyes light up. “Xinomavro is one of my favourites. You can work in so many different ways— Blanc de Noirs, light reds, heavier reds, solera, dark rosé, light rosé… there are so many possibilities. It has lots of acidity, lots of tannins, lots of colour, so depending on how you organise picking, you can have very different approaches.” Moschomavro, is another local red which tends to have higher pH levels, but if picked early and vinified like a blanc de noirs, with just a moment on the skins, it creates a light style, floral and easy-drinking. There is also one vineyard of Limniona, which is known for wines low in tannins with lilac notes. 

Grapes are handpicked between mid-August and late September with one of the most important decisions being the picking date. While Thomas followed the cycles of nature to determine the harvest, Meli has been experimenting with earlier picking dates.

“I sometimes pick a little bit earlier, as I want to give the grapes time to settle down in the winery.… It’s a philosophy of time and energy; I like to give the grapes room and time to feel cooler, to not be stressed…”

That lack of stress is apparent when tasting Ktima Ligas wines. These intense but relaxed wines are exported all over the world and have earned the moniker ‘The Ligas nose’ for their unique profiles. Meli’s vision remains one of biodiversity, purity and transparency, in both the farming and production of the wines. These are honest, unadulterated Greek wines that speak to us of the place where they were grown and made with love.

Greece, Pella

The terroir has a lot of sun and fresh air, and set on well-drained soils of loam and limestone. A vibrant ecosystem is also encouraged, including the preservation of the naturally occurring turf. This balance of nature with the needs of the growers means that vines are kept naturally healthy by their surroundings, and little intervention or treatment is needed. The grapes are handpicked between mid-August and late September.

"The gentle slopes of Pella enjoy bountiful sun and air. Our vines draw strength from the loamy sand, limey and well-drained soil, which we keep fluffy and rested, preserving the natural turf. Producing nourishing natural ingredients, the vibrant microcosm that grows in harmonious equilibrium in the soil requires the vine for balanced development."

Despite following such traditional guidelines for their wine production, Ktima Ligas uses modern technology in the vinification process, although sparingly, to help nature as it transforms the grapes into wine.

Tasting the wines of Ktima Ligas truly conjures up the taste and history of this historic area.