A trip to Epirus, especially in Ioannina and the surrounding area, enchants the visitor and offers him pleasant moments by visiting beautiful places and getting acquainted with simple and hospitable residents.
Epirus and the region of Ioannina were the residence of the first tribes of Selles (Hellas), after which the Greeks were named. This is what the ancients emphasize: "Primordial Hellas Epirus" and Aristotle as well: "...the area was inhabited by the people called Greeks then and Hellenes now ".
As Epirus is situated in the northeast corner of our country, it has constituted a shield of freedom of the Nation from foreign raids. Many personalities from Epirus played an important role in Greek history: King Pyrros; Ioannis Kolettis, first prime minister of the newly established Greek state in 1844; Georgios Stavros, founder of the National Bank; the great national benefactors: G. Averoff Tositsas, Zosimades bros.
Zitsa, the wine route of Epirus
Nowadays Zitsa is one of the most important economic centers of the region. On the slopes of the mountainous area of Zitsa, the famous variety of the region, Debina, which gives the wine of Zitsa a world-wide recognition, is cultivated on areas like Karitsa, Protopappa, Ligopsia and Klimatia. Major wineries of the region are: Zinos-Zitsa’s Cooperative, Glinavos Estate and Prassos Winery.
The wine of Zitsa has always played a leading role in the region's society and economy. Evidence suggests that, since the 15th century, when Zitsa was first inhabited, winegrowing has been a major occupation of its inhabitants. We also know that the monks of the Prophet Elijah Monastery, located next to the winery, were active wine-makers, beginning with the abbot Gregory in the 18th century. Hobhouse, Lord Byron’s companion, mentions in his diary (1809), that Gregory offered them a white wine for which he was very proud.
The name “Debina” probably comes from the Italian "de vino" - which means wine grape - and that is why it is speculated to be of Italian origin. It occupies a total of arable land of approximately 7,500 acres. It probably is an old indigenous variety of Epirus, which, according to one version, has been cultivated since the end of the 16th century and is named after the village of Dambeni, located between Kastoria and Korytsa.
A white native variety, lively and productive, that has great adaptability to various soils, but is sensitive to mildew, downy mildew, (powdery mildew?) botrytis, infectious frustration and spring frosts. It is mainly formed in a linear double-sided string (Royat).
It ripens between the middle and the end of September and gives dry wines of medium alcoholic % vol, good acidity, distinctive aroma, as well as semi-sparkling wines. As a variety, it easily adapts to poor, dry and calcareous soils. It is cultivated on altitudes of 700m in shallow limestone soils, with a microclimate affected by the sea breezes that reach the area through the paths that Thyamis drew near the shores of Kalamas (Thyami's tributary - today the two words are identical). Potassium-rich soils confer resistance to the diseases and, in particular, to mildew (a vineyard desease), while ensuring good maturation.
Zitsa (Ioannina region of Ioannina)was the first to introduce the cultivation of the Debina in Greece and created a rosé half-dry, more or less sparkling wine, resulting from the winemaking of the white Debina and the red Bekari and Vlachiko. Its gassy character was purely a matter of luck and was due to the climatic conditions and the cold and humid Continental climate of the area that did not allow the grapes to mature completely.
What could winegrowers do? They were forced to pick up the branches of the vine and tie them upwards, leaving the bunches exposed to the sun to mature more. Those matured, but the must they produced was so high in sugars that it had no time to ferment in September / October and before the cold air from Pindos began to blow again - which meant the end of the fermentation. The physical process was, therefore, forced to stop and start over in the spring with plenty of carbon dioxide that slowly and empirically the Zitsa winemakers learned to trap in their barrels and keep it until they consumed all the wine.
As for the rosé color? It was due to the fact that they did not bother to separate the white from the red grapes - they even vinified them with the peels and the grape stems. This wine rarely passed the boundaries of the Prefecture of Ioannina. Besides, it did not withstand transport.
Today, Debina is the name of Origin of Superior Quality Wine (OPAP) only for white dry wine. Types of Zitsa PDO wines (ZAPP):
white dry quiet.
white dry semi-sparkling or sparkling.
white semi-dry semi-sparkling or sparkling.
white semi-sweet sparkling (not produced officially - unregistered quantities of small producers and local wineries)
The tradition of Zitsa mainly speaks of rosé wines with bubles, because the vinification of the Debina was made along with grapes from the red vlachiko and bekari varieties. Paradoxically, it was ignored and only the white wine was institutionalized. Thus, today, 3 wine producers produce 15 Zitsa PDO wines (OPAP), 7 of which sparkling. Both sparkling and rosé sparkling wines are produced, but as table wines. The only rosé sparkling wines of Greece marked PDO are Amynteo PDO wines.
Source: www.debina.gr
Photo credit:Nikos Nikolaou
