Ktima Tselepos

Moschofilero before ornament

Moschofilero sets the first decision for Yiannis Tselepos, Winemaker at Ktima Tselepos in Mantinia: keep the grape legible. His work at the estate comes after oenology training at the University of Dijon, then a period from 1980–1989 as a wine consultant in Arcadia, and since 1989 as owner-producer at Ktima Tselepos. That path matters here because it ties French technical formation to a local discipline in the highlands of Arcadia, where repetition has more force than novelty. Tselepos speaks of Moschofilero without decoration: “This is the variety that I rescued from oblivion, by vinifying it in a mono-varietal way that highlights all its unique characteristics.” The sentence gives the method its edge. At this bench, clarity is not a mood; it is a vinification choice, a refusal to hide the variety behind a blend when its own aromatic line can carry the wine. The estate’s Mantinia bottling and Amalia Brut remain the clearest signatures of that work, one still and one sparkling, both built around brightness, texture, and a defined aromatic register.

A plateau that keeps the wine taut

The winery works from the Mantinia plateau, at 700-750m, where clay, limestone and schist soils sit near Mount Parnonas. That altitude is not scenery alone. It gives context to the estate’s focus on freshness and acidity, especially in Moschofilero, a grape Tselepos has kept at the center of the program. The wider range includes Moschofilero, Agiorgitiko, Assyrtiko, Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, but the house’s center of gravity remains PDO Mantinia and the white and sparkling styles that make the variety’s lift visible in the glass. The stated farming direction is organic, and the estate’s scale is medium, with 450,000 bottles a year. Those figures put the work in an interesting place: large enough to require discipline across the cellar, small enough that the hand of the producer still matters in decisions of style. Mantinia is described through freshness, high acidity, citrus fruit, lemon and rose; Amalia Brut through light lemon-green color, fine bubbles, citrus flowers, honey, brioche and rose. The through-line is precision rather than weight.

The cellar below Mount Parnonas

The place carries the quiet of a highland winery. Earthen hills frame the approach, Mount Parnonas sits in view, and the tasting room belongs to a scenic, rustic and elegant register rather than a theatrical one. In the cellar, the important gesture is restraint: letting Moschofilero show its own shape, keeping Mantinia bright, giving Amalia Brut enough texture for brioche and honey to sit beside citrus flower and rose. The room does not need to overstate the point. The plateau has already done part of the work, and Tselepos’s long tenure has made the rest a matter of continuity. Mantinia, cut by citrus, lemon and rose, best frames Amalia Brut.