Greek wine has been a ardour of mine for years, as a DWWA choose for Greece as much as 2012 and thru visiting completely different areas of Greece yearly of my grownup life. I really like recommending Greek wines for his or her distinctive steadiness of standout character and super worth.
Greek wines virtually at all times exceed expectation, which is partly why they’re so warmly acquired. Their grape varieties – whites, specifically – can attain distinctive heights. That is the rationale that, apart from England, Greece is the place the place I most frequently dream of planting a winery of my very own.
Scroll right down to see tasting notes and scores for Olly Smith’s 14 Greek wine suggestions
I used to be significantly thrilled to select a Xinomavro from Apostolos Thymiopoulos on BBC1’s Saturday Kitchen, which led to Majestic reporting a gross sales rise of over 1,300% – equal to 3 months’ gross sales in a single morning.
So I leapt on the likelihood just lately to go to some top-notch Greek wine producers, from Santorini within the Aegean to the Peloponnese peninsula on the mainland. Whereas I solely noticed a fraction of this nation’s regional jigsaw of winery gems, it was incredible to attach with a brand new technology and a few contemporary concepts: a heady mixture that’s invigorating the Greek wine scene.
New technology
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Simply over two hours’ drive north, however nonetheless in Peloponnese, are the vineyards of Nemea, the place Agiorgitiko is one other native grape at the moment making massive adjustments. Seeing idyllic, sun-soaked vineyards surrounded by olive bushes and orange groves, I used to be tempted to consider Nemea as a child California. However after a couple of days, it appeared far nearer to Rioja, because of Nemea’s secret weapon: altitude. The most important appellation in Greece with some 3,000ha of vines, in accordance with Yiannis Paraskevopoulos at Gaia, and starting from 250m-1,050m in altitude, Nemea is about to burgeon as a wine route. Accommodations are being constructed and a wealth of previous vines are dotted by the 17 wine villages of the area.The actual breakthrough is within the vineyards themselves; clonal choice is altering the sport for Agiorgitiko. With extra seamless fruitiness and voluptuous depth to this crimson gem, the barrel samples and early bottlings I tasted from these new younger vineyards are at instances virtually as heady because the violet perfume of high-altitude Malbec from Argentina.
Wherever I regarded in Nemea, it felt just like the phrase ‘pioneer’ was falling from the sky. With so many micro-wineries bobbing up, it’s essential to recollect the early planters comparable to George Skouras, a residing powerhouse of Greek wine. Skouras famously started as an actual ‘garagiste’ – making wine in an precise storage. As he confirmed me round his favorite corners of Nemea, it struck me that he’s nonetheless brimming with that very same zeal right this moment, ably assisted by his gifted son and companion in wine, Dimitris. The 2 of them took me to the highest of a mountain winery the place George ‘planted me as a vine’ to clarify the best way he orients his vineyards east to west, to shelter the grapes from sunburn. Utilizing the vine cover above to maintain the fruit and floor cool promotes class in his closing composition.
Falling silent for some time, we have been basking within the feeling of being vines when George opened one eye and mentioned: ‘Silence is the place the work is completed.’ A thinker, a time-taker and a residing dynamo of concepts, it’s to his credit score that the vineyard remains to be proudly innovating, as seen within the Peplo rosé advisable under.
I’m tempted to place down roots right here myself, and I requested Dimitris about native vineyards. His smartphone alive with dots throughout Nemea, this younger wine expertise already has his eye on the very best plots and his ambition is as playful as it’s decided. And in case you ever get the prospect, I warmly suggest having fun with Skouras wines at Kavos restaurant overlooking the Corinth canal, run by Mrs Pagona since 1964 and extra just lately her son Tasos – genuinely among the best seafood meals of my life. George might see I used to be transfixed by the ocean, the wine, the second and gently jogged my memory: ‘It’s all about freshness and ease, my pal.’
Distinctive wines
Close by, in Nemea, Evangelia Palivou can be bringing contemporary concepts to Palivou Property, a vineyard with natural ambitions and well-established pedigree because of the legacy of her father Giorgos. One in every of my pet peeves with Greece is worldwide grape varieties. Why trouble with them when the native grapes numbering into the a whole lot are so characterful and spectacular?
However at Palivou, I’m glad to make an exception. Viognier already has some stellar high quality within the nation, notably from Gerovassiliou in Epanomi, and Palivou can be doing a very good job with its Barrel Fermented Viognier 2021, mineral brilliant with sensual silky texture and discreetly scented fruit that’s extra on the melon aspect than apricot.
However it’s Evangelia’s La Vie en Rose (see under), comprised of 100% Moschofilero, which will get me going. Surreptitiously scented with a whiff of lemon Turkish delight, this pale pink wine is all sheen and brilliance on the palate, gleaming like a pear polished to a diamond end and costing about €10 – what a steal it’s.
I’d like to see extra of this playfulness in Greek wine, making irresistible wines that individuals can not assist however fall in love with. And I’d like to encourage extra risk-taking with Greek blends. One thing tells me I received’t be ready lengthy with expertise like Evangelia working as exhausting as she does.
From the ocean
The white wines of Greece are more and more revered for his or her thrilling vitality in youth in addition to their world-class capability for evolution. None extra so than Assyrtiko from Santorini, which I’ve been shopping for and accumulating for years. It started for me with Gaia’s Thalassitis (which means ‘from the ocean’), nonetheless a wine whose salty verve takes my breath away (2020, £26.95 Fintry Wines, Shelved Wine) – it’s just like the laser-guided nimble elf-twin of Spain’s manzanilla.
Gaia’s Wild Ferment (see under) is one other wine of intriguing depth, character and sweetness, and winemaker Yiannis Paraskevopoulos has even experimented with ageing his Assrytiko underwater, with delicious outcomes. Swimming throughout the thermal currents from Santorini’s volcano collectively is likely one of the happiest recollections of my wine life – actually feeling the mysterious energy rising from the deep beneath us.
His newest wine, Ammonite (100% Assyrtiko), was made in partnership together with his daughter Leto, who’s steadily bringing her spectacular information to present and future vintages. It’s monolithic in impression and a noteworthy achievement, which, along with Yiannis’ open-handed method and partnership with Steve Daniel of specialist service provider Novum Wines, has impressed so many people within the UK to fall in love with Greek wine.
On such a small island, Yiannis is under no circumstances alone in reaching for the pinnacles of delight. Argyros has lengthy impressed me with its Cuvee Monsignori – the truth is I’ve simply ordered a case of the 2018 classic (see under) from The Wine Society. It’s additionally a lovely vineyard to go to, together with fourth-generation Matthaios (Matthew) Argyros’ new enterprise Pure, which takes Santorini Assyrtiko to new heights.
A renovated 1700s wine cave is dwelling to a bijou vineyard dedicated to spontaneous small-batch Assyrtiko fermentation in cement. The porous nature permits a micro-oxygenation, and the wine then spends 14 months on its effective lees and is held again for 2 years earlier than launch. The result’s so taut and effective that I purchased three bottles of the 2017 on the spot. It’s a wine of extraordinary citrus delicacy, saline precision, highly effective depth and the primary curls of dried thyme drifting right into a Riesling-like evolution.
Each wine lover ought to e-book an appointment to style the current vintages in situ; it’s a exceptional setting of tranquillity and focus and the wines greater than dwell as much as the hype.
The subsequent chapter
For worth within the UK, I’d direct each commerce purchaser to work with the Santo cooperative on Santorini. The view from the vineyard over the sun-drenched ocean frames the caldera completely. It’s an enormous favorite with vacationers – I’m informed it’s Greece’s largest website for wine tourism (600,000 in 2019) with some 1,200 energetic grower-members on the island.
With an extra 40ha beneath its management on the smaller island of Thirasia, this cooperative is chargeable for about one third of the island’s wine manufacturing. Its pristine, entry-level Cuvée Choice Assyrtiko 2020 (2019, £25.39 Vida Wines), which spends 13 months on lees, is a delight.
Instrumental to the UNESCO bid for website safety for Santorini’s vineyards, the facility of the co-op is targeted on defending the remaining 1,200ha of vineyards which can be beneath menace from growth. Whenever you suppose that only a few many years in the past within the Nineteen Eighties there was estimated to be 2,500ha, Santo’s proud defend brand is required now greater than ever. We might have additional wine avengers to assemble, too, in a bid to stave off any extra historic winery loss.
With the immense impression of Santorini’s white wines comes the query, what subsequent? I mulled this over from Apanemo, a set of suites in Akrotiri overlooking the Santorini caldera and run by Spiros Apanemo, who is sort of actually the very best – and positively the friendliest – lodge supervisor on this planet. Along with his heat laughter ringing in my ears, my eyes lifted up over the brim of the island to the following chapter in Greek wine.
For me, it begins with altitude. From Crete to Epirus within the north, it’s within the increased hills and mountains that future treasure lies for followers of Greek wine.
Cooler, stonier, with elements to go well with their full vary of native varieties, the highest spots are already being eyed up by canny growers – and I’ve even obtained my eye on a nook of Nemea. You by no means know, maybe my tiny plot may turn into a bit of footnote within the new story of Greek wine.