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Sous Le Végétal
Aegean Sea, Greece8 wines4.0 avg
62
Vassilis Alexiou's Samos project, with contributions from Jason Ligas and Patrick Bouju - Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains and the rare Avgoustiatis red, biodynamic farming, one mile from Anatolia. Continues since 2024 as Philia Winery.
One might say that the earth exploded, leaving myriads of tiny islands between Greece and Turkey. Samos, a largely mountainous island, is almost touching Anatolia, only separated from it by 1 mile (sic!) Mycale Strait. In 2017 Vassilis Alexiou founded Sous Le Végétal (under vegetation) on this beautiful green island - the vineyards, the winery and the viticulture are his. Jason Ligas and Patrick Bouju contributed to the project as collaborators during a period of its life, and the early importer and distributor communications framed the project around their names - which is why that version of the story is still widespread, and why it long appeared here as well.
The backbone is Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains (Moschato Samou locally), joined by the rare indigenous Avgoustiatis - said to be the first red grape harvested in Greece. The vines grow on ancient terraced vineyards across some sixty plots at elevations between roughly 400 and 900 metres. Each cuvée explores a different slope, vessel, or approach:
- Livia - direct-press Muscat, fresh and mineral
- Octave - Muscat from eight plots across four terroirs (okto, Greek for eight)
- Hüpnos - another Muscat expression
- Palli & Genesià - Muscat (a single cuvée, despite the ampersand)
- Auguste - the only red, from Avgoustiatis
- Sémélé - a rosé, half Avgoustiatis macerated a week, half direct-press Muscat
Four vessel types rotate across the cellar - amphorae, concrete eggs, steel, 500-litre barrels - with each plot vinified in at least two of them. No sulphur, no temperature control, indigenous yeasts, biodynamic and organic farming. The labels - off-the-Earth illustrations by Anthony Duchene, inspired by the volcanic soils - are as distinctive as the wines inside.
The collaboration with the project's main French distributor ended in 2024, and the estate continues under the name Philia Winery (philiawinery.com) - same estate, same vines, a range of six wines, with cuvées renamed (Oriens, Omnis and Augustus now stand where Livia, Octave and Hüpnos once did). In Alexiou's words, Sous Le Végétal was a project in progress; the new name is about giving what it has grown into a stable home. Bottles under the Sous Le Végétal label run through the 2023 vintage.
Attribution note: corrected in June 2026 based on direct correspondence from the founder, Vassilis Alexiou.
