Features Wine Lovers

Aphrodise: “The Season That Never Ends”

Photo courtesy of Aphrodise

After searching for perfection, co-founders Frank Schilling and Gabi Petrylaite created a rosé that found them. Aphrodise, a luxury Greek sparkling rosé, was created through late 2022 and officially launched in the Cayman Islands in the summer of 2023.

Schilling is an artist, musician and entrepreneur while Petrylaite is a digital marketing agency founder and an International Brain Education Olympiad medalist and ambassador. Pre COVID, Schilling and Petrylaite were traveling in Greece tasting lots of wine and found the Xinomavro grape varietal. “The grape varietal is special and has distinctive characteristics in relation to how the wine makes you feel, especially within a sparkling format,” Petrylaite said.

Although both founders didn’t know much about rosé before entering the scene, they had a tendency to over-consume some lower quality varietals. “When we first tasted Aphrodise, it really broke the spell,” Schilling said. The hardest part for co-founders felt like all of it. From discovering the grape in sparkling form, to perfecting the brand and packaging then showing others its special attributes.

“It has been so incredible rewarding seeing the joy in people’s faces glass after glass,” Petrylaite said. “Aphrodise brings celebration and happiness along with it.” Seeing the product grow makes it worthwhile for each.

With so many kinds of wine, Schilling and Petrylaite were drawn to rosé after realizing how they felt after drinking the Xinomavro grape, a black grape that gives a beautiful rose color. Back in the day, you had to be “important enough” to consume Xinomavro grapes, which are often regarded as the “Most Noble” grape of Greece. Consuming large quantities of this grape were kind to both the mind and the stomach. With the use of this grape varietal, Aphrodise can stand out from their competitors using other grapes and production methods.

When growing anything, an optimal climate is needed. For the best quality Xinomavro grapes high-altitude arid, sandy soil is needed. In Greece, the viniculture is more respectful to the grape and the land it grows on than other wine regions. “Everything Greece does to cultivate their grapes and the land is sustainable,” Schiilling said.

For Aphrodise’s unique bottle, the idea was to have a glass that protected the grape from outside light and a dynamic brand motif that didn’t evolve much overtime. “Our stylized Shield with its distinctive letter ‘A’, stands for the category “Afrodis” (Greek for Xinomavro Bubbly),” Petrylaite said. With the shield and stylized letter as brandmarks, Aphrodise sets the standards for other companies and future products. “Our slogan, ‘The Season That Never Ends’ is the mood I was hoping to capture,” Schilling followed with.

As of now, Schilling and Petrylaite plan to stick with the Xinomavro grape for its exceptional characteristics though they are currently developing a Brut Blanc using the same vineyard. Aphrodise is special because of the grape used. As Schilling and Petrylaite say, “Never leave the good time you’re having for the good time you wish you were having.”