Greek Wine Tasting: Naxos
Greek Trip Naxos Day 2 included a very special event - Full Moon Dinner in the vineyard of the Tranampelo Winery – our taxi brought us to a remote location we thought “this can’t be it – there are no cars or people?” he said it is the only location he knows …. we find ourselves being over an hour early (mixup on the timing!) – no worries, the owner, our chef, and tour guide, Konstantinos Makridimitris was incredibly welcoming! He set us up on the terrace with a bottle of white and let us just relax into the beautiful setting. Once other guests arrived and he was ready to begin – we got a glass of Migma Pet Nat, an effervescent white, and followed him through the vineyard/family farm – what a fabulous tour learning all about Naxian wine making and tasting a few things right out of their organic garden. The dinner then kicked off with a platter of local cheeses, meats, olives, and chunks of the most delicious bread ever! We paired all this with their Odd Blend, the same dry white we enjoyed while waiting – nice! Next we had a cucumber starter with their Potamisi, a super interesting minerally white – great pairing. Third was the now infamous dakos/rusk salad (may be best yet!) with a delightful Ekho rose – boom! Forth wine was another rose, the juicy Liatiko, with a chickpea dish along with slaw and bread. Lastly we had Ioannis Hatzis Winery 7 Roots Xinomavro, an earthy, spicy, red to go with our mixed meat and veggie rice plate with a unique side of tzatziki (or was this another local cheese?). We ended the evening with a very nice port-like wine and some incredible shots of the full moon and soft sounds of the vineyard in the moonlight.
Side Note: we met a real “Mama Mia” tonight – when Barbara showed up to help Konstantinos with the serving she shared a little about herself – came to Naxos for man – stayed for the love of the island – even as our same taxi driver picked us up he said “oh yes, everyone knows Barbara!”
We are officially “over the moon” with our Tranampelo experience!
See more about our Greece Trip: Naxos or our Big Fat Greek Anniversary Trip!