Rhapsody undersea
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 submerged in the sea, in a depth of 22 m. The wine aged in the sea in laboratory conditions (constant temperature, perfect absence of oxygen, salinity, pressure of 1.500 kg per cm2, darkness),was incorporated perfectly in the underwater environment and in a "metaphysical" way brings the sea breeze and iodine in the glass! The color remained like not a day passed.
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 sea: 17/20
Rhapsody 2015 submerged undersea: Wine Advocate 2018: 89/100, “«Reviewed by Mark Squires, issue 239:The 2015 Rhapsody Amphora Under Water (Sea) is pretty unusual, a dry amphora-aged Mavrodaphne from a batch of bottles submerged in the sea at 22 meters for 2.5 years. It comes in at 12% alcohol. This is the more elegant of the two "under water" wines, although it seems oddly rich on first taste. Then, it becomes very expressive, throwing off baked strawberry nuances.”