Ktima Ligas Pata Trava 2023

Ktima Ligas is one of the pioneering natural wine estates in northern Greece, founded by Thomas Ligas in Pella and now largely led by his daughter Meli Ligas. Long before low intervention wine became fashionable, the family was farming according to principles of permaculture and biodiversity, treating vineyards as complete ecosystems rather than isolated agricultural sites. Meli studied both viticulture and biology, and her approach combines deep respect for traditional Greek varieties with an almost obsessive focus on texture, maceration, and energy in wine. The estate has become especially influential within the natural wine world for its uncompromising approach to native fermentations, zero or near zero sulfur, and highly expressive wines that often blur stylistic categories.

Pata Trava 2023 is one of the winery’s most distinctive bottlings, made entirely from xinomavro but vinified almost like a blanc de noirs. The name roughly translates to “press and pull,” referring to the technique of immediately pressing the grapes and quickly separating the juice from the skins to avoid significant color or tannin extraction. While most Ligas wines involve extended skin contact, Pata Trava is intentionally the exception, built around the idea of preserving delicacy and aromatic complexity from a deeply structured red grape.

The fruit is hand harvested and gently direct pressed with essentially no real maceration time beyond the brief contact that occurs naturally during pressing. Fermentation takes place spontaneously with indigenous yeast in stainless steel, followed by several months on fine lees to build texture and savory depth. The wine is bottled unfiltered, with little to no sulfur depending on the vintage conditions. Even without extended skin contact, there is still a faint phenolic grip from the xinomavro, giving the wine more structure than a typical rosé or white.

The 2023 is impossible to neatly categorize, sitting somewhere between blanc de noirs, rosé, and lightly oxidative skin contact white. Aromatically it moves through bergamot, quince, citron, orange peel, strawberry, tomato jam, and dried herbs, with subtle leesy and savory notes underneath. The palate has bright acidity and a lightly textured, almost salty finish that keeps the wine energetic despite its layered, slightly wild personality. It is exactly the kind of wine that captures why the Ligas family has become such an important reference point for natural wine in Greece.