Tenimenti Angelini, a family owned group of Tuscan estates, was created in November of 1994, with the acquisition of three historical Tuscan wineries: Azienda Agricola Val di Suga in the town of Montalcino, Tenuta Trerose in the town of Montepulciano and Fattoria San Leonino in the town of Castellina in Chianti. Currently the estate is comprised of 415 hectares, between the three properties, with 173 hectares of vineyards divided as follow: Val di Suga, 100 hectares, with 55 hectares under vine; Tenuta Trerose, 170 hectares with 70 under vine and San Leonino 100 hectares with 45 under vine.
The 33 ha vineyard was planted in the Amyndeon region in the late 1990s.
Alpha Estate is situated in the Ampelia location, meaning vines, in the heart of the Amyndeon region, an area of VQPRD wines in the northern part of Greece.
The 33 ha vineyard was planted in the Amyndeon region in the late 1990s. It is situated on a plateau at an altitude of 620-710 m with a northwest exposure, covering a total area of 33 ha . The local climate is characterized by cold winters with sufficient rainfall and snow, which provide the vines with the necessary water supplies to endure the relatively dry summer. Additionally, two neighbouring lakes contribute to the existence of a mild semi-continental climate, favoring the cultivation of foreign and indigenous, red and white grape varieties.
The sandy-clay texture of the soil, assuring an ideal drainage of the rain water, the favorable climatic conditions during maturation and harvest periods and finally the appropriate viticultural practices contribute to a complete fruit ripening thus offering the possibility of producing wines of exquisite quality and rich aromas. The density of plantation is 3900 vines per hectare and the yields do not exceed 4200 kg of grapes per hectare. In order to avoid extreme water stress during summer, regulated deficit irrigation is applied to assure the optimum maturation of grapes.
Alpha Estate is a member of the Wine Producers Association of the Vineyards of North Greece.
This was bottle number 067757.
In 1919, the then owner of Groenrivier, Hennie Malan, divided the farm vertically in order to sell half of the land to his brother-in-law. The development of Malan's share was a co-operative venture between himself and his son, Manie. In the next few years they set about converting this partial wilderness into a wine farm, to which they gave the Latin name, Alto, a reference both to the altitude of the vineyards and their own aspirations. They built a homestead and a cellar, and planted the lower slopes with vines.
Malan's choice of red varieties was based on a shrewd assessment of the nature of his land. When Piet du Toit bought Alto in 1959, neither he nor the experts he called in for analysis and advice could fault the planting or the wine created by the Malans. When Piet retired in 1983, his son, Hempies, a well-known rugby Springbok, succeeded him. Hempies du Toit continued the fine red wine-making traditions of his predecessors until May 2000 when Neethlingshof's winemaker Schalk van der Westhuizen took over.
