Rhapsody underwater
Amphora red dry wine
The first in ancient way – following a mixture of ancient recipes - experimental vinification of Mavrodaphne in “amphoras”. Vintage 2015. A limited number of Rhapsody bottles are aged under natural water in a winery cement tank like aquarium. A new method which permits maturation and incorporation in absolute conditions of constant temperature, darkness and lack of oxygen!
Mavrodaphne (in dry vinification).
The grapes were selected without their wooden bunches in tο amphorae. We started natural fermentation without adding any yeast. The grape mass was gently separated from the juice(must) in the press and the fermentation continued into the amphorae, where we added a small amount of wood of cedar and myrtle. The fermentation was completed normally without cooling of grape-mass, which remained in the amphorae for 2 months until clarification. After the debourbage of the pure wine, we proceeded to the filtering, adding sulfites at very low level and bottling. After bottling (with cork and caps) the mouth and the neck of the bottles were covered with beeswax, for more safety. From these bottles: 408 bottles -numbered from 1 to 408- were placed in a steel pallet, secured and submerged into the sea of Lixouri, where they will remain for aging, at the sea bottom, in a depth of 22 meters. 120 bottles remained in the winery's cellar for comparative tasting! 706 bottles were waxed similarly, numbered and placed in an alternative cement tank of the winery, filled with water, in order to observe the aging effects of the wine, in salted water and in normal drinking water.
11,98% vol.
Dark purple red color; nose with intense notes of exotic fruits, mouth with intensity and complexity, friendly and round tannins, entrancing the taste buds on enigmatic and uncharted taste trips!
Rhapsody 2015 underwater: Wine Advocate 2018: 90/100
Rhapsody 2015 submerged undersea: Wine Advocate 2018: 89/100
Jancisrobinson.com 2022: Rhapsody 2015, aged under fresh water: 16,5/20Rhapsody 2015 underwater: Wine Advocate 2018: 90/100, «Reviewed by Mark Squires, issue 239: The 2015 Rhapsody Amphora Under Water is pretty unusual, a dry amphora-aged Mavrodaphne from a batch of bottles locked in a cement tank and submerged in normal drinking water. That said, this has some elements of the Daphne - Daphne, a fresh feel, a bit more grip on the finish and some complexity. It shows a bit more concentration than the seawater version, as well as more intensity of flavor. It is refined, distinctive and enticing, you'll certainly love it. Just 706 bottles were produced.”