Located in Macedonia, at 300m elevation, in a valley surrounded by five mountains, Domaine Nerantzi tends 15 hectares of organic vineyards with moderately calcareous, sandy loam soils. Some 40 km from the Northern Aegean, a beneficial microclimate results from daily sea breezes and then cool nighttime air settling off of Mount Menoikion.
Nerantzis Mitropoulos founded this domaine—now run with his enologist daughter Evanthia Mitropoulou and winemaker Theopoula Mitropoulou—on a profound sense of place, with a commitment to resuscitating long-lost autochthonous varietals, the use of indigenous yeast, and even a focus on local oak for cooperage. Well suited for agriculture, this area in Macedonia has been inhabited since 5000 B.C., and reminders of this history are regularly found in the shards of ancient pottery that turn up in Nerantzi vineyards.
