Vine Path Blog 8/21: The Wines of Greece

The Wines of Greece

Vine Path Blog 8/21

While Greek wine today may not have the international reputation or brand recognition of some other European countries, that doesn’t mean that we should ignore it. Greek wine represents the origins of fine wine in Europe. Ancient Greece was the hub of the European wine world and their wines were famous across Europe for superior quality. The wines, techniques, and the vines themselves were transported around Europe by the Roman, Greek, and Minoan Civilizations via their sophisticated trading networks way, way, back in the day, thereby teeing up countries like Italy and France for the success they would later enjoy. The winemaking traditions of this region date back farther than 6,500 years ago but it’s assumed that cultivation and vinification began much earlier than that, perhaps over 10,000 years ago. The Minoan’s, predating the Greek’s and Romans, established themselves on the island of Crete back in 3000BC and were the first civilization to import wines, vines, and advanced techniques from Egypt, which has an even older winemaking tradition than Europe believe it or not. From there on wine becomes inseparable from ordinary life in the region. The Greek’s and the Roman’s loved this juice so much they famously named a god for it.

Ancient clay vessels used to transport wine in Greece.

My favorite example of the prevailing drinking culture of the times is the symposium. If you’re a Classics nerd, you’re aware of Plato’s Symposium, one of the quintessential texts of ancient Greek philosophy, representing one of three comprehensive written documentations of the philosophical thought of Socrates. It also happens to be a record of a bunch of drinking parties. In ancient Greece, symposiums were always drinking parties. While today we think of these gatherings of thinkers, members of the upper class, and politicians as important intellectual events (and assuredly many of them were), we don’t often bring up the fact that those same people were also probably completely wasted. The Symposium is a slog if you’re not a fan of philosophy but it is entertaining for the caddy drama that results from drunks crashing the parties, sorry intellectual conferences.

Roditis on the vine.

As Hugh Johnson writes in his book Vintage: The Story of Wine, “The people of the Mediterranean began to emerge from barbarism when they learned to cultivate the olive and the vine.” While this is certainly an oversimplification that serves Hugh’s goal of centering wine in the story of Western Civilization, there is a valid sentiment here. It’s impossible to separate the history of wine from the history of human civilization in the West and the Middle East, which is one of the reasons people like us are so obsessed with this ferment. This month we’re going to reintroduce Greek wine as wine worth seeking out and hopefully get everyone excited again about something truly foundational to the world of wine.

Tetramyhtos Patras Roditis

Beautiful Patras on the water.

Tetramyhtos is a winery in the city of Patras, located in Peloponnese along the southern bank of the Gulf of Corinth. It’s also one of the most ancient wine regions in Europe. Tetramyhtos, like many of the modern wineries of Greece, takes a strong minimal-interventionist stance when it comes to their wines, presumably because of the immense pride Greek’s have for their traditions. The grape here is a fascinating pink skinned grape called Roditis (or Rhoditis) that unlike most every other wine on earth can make a white or a red wine. Here we have a dry white example. Aged entirely in stainless steel to preserve its freshness, the wine is spicy and perfumed on the nose with notes of apples and ripe stone fruit on the palate. The warm climate tends to make wines of extreme ripeness but Roditis is great at carrying that weight without losing balance.

Old bush vines on the Gai’a estate in Santorini.

Gai’a Winery ‘Thalassitis’ Santorini Assyrtiko

The Gai’a Winery (pronounced ‘Yay-ya’) is one of the trailblazing wineries of the Greek wine quality revolution. Established in 1994 by Leon Karatsaos and Yiannis Paraskevopoulos, they quickly established a name for themselves as one of the island’s premiere wineries. Santorini is perhaps the most famous wine region in Greece today and for good reason. This volcanic island is unique in Europe for being one of the only places that is phylloxera free, meaning the vines are super old and planted on their own rootstock. This is what vineyards would have all been like in Europe until the 19th century when phylloxera first ran rampant through Europe. For the cuvee ‘Thalassitis’ (meaning ‘wine of the sea’), they harvest Assyrtiko from their estate vineyards on the coast and vinify it gently in stainless steel after a 12 hour cold soak to extract extra flavor and phenolics from the skins. The resulting wine is as serious as Assyrtiko gets. Intensely mineral with bracing acidity, textured and crisp, with delicate notes of citrus and honeysuckle. The intention with this wine is to show how Assyrtiko behaves with some age on it and I think that they make an impressive demonstration of that in this wine.

Xinomavro on the vine.

Stamnaki Peloponnese Agiorgitiko

Stamnaki is the house brand of the dynamic Greek wine importer Eklektikon. Meaning ‘little wine jug’, the wines of the Stamnaki brand are designed to be quintessential introductions to the historic grapes and regions of Greece. The grapes here are sourced from organic vineyards in Denthis, Peloponnese and are vinified in stainless steel to preserve the fresh fruit characteristics without making an example with too much tannin. That’s a good thing because Agiogitiko can be a true challenge to drink in it’s most serious form and that wouldn’t make for too good of an introduction. Instead we have a lighter, brighter expression of the grape that shows it’s dark fruit and meaty undertones delightfully well.

Apostolos Thymiopoulos

Thymiopoulos Naoussa Xinomavro

This new winery was established by winemaker Apostolos Thymiopoulos in 2005 in the northern region of Naoussa, one of the great crus for Xinomavro, the greatest red wine of Greece. In Naoussa we have mountains instead of coasts, hard rocks instead of sandy or volcanic soil. The wines here are famous for their age-worthiness and high quality. The wines of Thymiopoulos are produced from estate vineyards that are managed organically and biodynamically with an eye towards expanding the biodiversity of the vineyard site both above ground and under. The resulting grapes are as impressive as they get. Xinomavro comes in many shapes and sizes but is all too often made in a dull, overly tannic way. Not so here. Instead we have a wine that simultaneously shows off the grit and structure of the grape without losing the tart black fruit that defines the varietal (Xinomavro does mean ‘sour black’ after all). Naturally vinified and aged in large neutral oak, this wine is one of our favorites in the store when it comes to changing people’s perception of Greek wine.

The Naoussa vineyards in the Thymiopoulos estate.