Wines of Greece

Three seas wash the shores of Greece—the Ionian, the Aegean and the Mediterranean—and they mean everything to the history of her wines and winemaking.

No part of Greece (save for a small section in the northwest) is more than 50 miles from one of these seas. The grape vines of Greece—especially those on islands such as Santorini or Crete—benefit from the twofold way maritime breezes stabilize temperatures during the (sometimes torrid) day and how they cool the air at night. Few catchwords mean more to good winemaking than “warm days, cool nights.”

Thousands of years ago, these same seas became passageways for Greek explorers and conquerors who planted vines as far west as southern Italy and as far east as Afghanistan. In time, the wines of Spain, Italy and France would owe much to their individual Greek legacies. Indeed, Grecian—not Roman—wines were antiquity’s most famed.

Photo by Boudewijn Huysmans on unsplash.com

History
The most reliable records date Grecian winemaking to the Minoan civilization on Crete around 2500-2100 B.C. Greek winemaking flourished—if in a decidedly traditional manner—up to the time of the Ottoman occupation (from the 14th to the 19th centuries) and its punitive taxes on wine. The net result of the Turks’ rule was to remove winemaking from public producers and fragment it back into the home.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Greek wines reeled from the serial attacks of the plant louse phylloxera, two world wars and its own civil war (1945-49). Even by the 1960s, most Greek wine was sold from tanks into jugs carried by the buyer.

Only in the 1980s did change begin in earnest, because Greeks realized that wine sold in the international marketplace must result from careful work in and lower yields from the vineyard, up-to-date winery equipment and, for some wines, the judicious use of wood.

Every successive year, reputable magazines and revues post greater recognition and more awards for Greek wines. Like the conquerors who made their forebears, Greek wines continue to land on foreign shores—triumphant.

Overall
Greece is 10 percent smaller than the state of Illinois (even incorporating 20 of its larger islands) but is 70 percent mountainous—very nice for raising lamb and goats, not so great for vines. Its main agriculture—olive trees and vines—uses some of these mountainsides profitably, but more so hillsides and what flatlands are available.

In wine production, Greece ranks 14th in the world (after Romania and Hungary). A surprising 75-80 percent of what wine it makes is white; only 15 percent is red. (The balance is sweet wine.)

The most (in)famous wine of Greece is Retsina, a pine resin-flavored and -scented white wine. Many Greeks, however, will proffer it as the sole match for the several small appetizers (meze) that begin any meal. It derives from the ancient practice of sealing the walls of wine amphorae with pitch, which is soluble in alcohol.

How wines are named
The names of Greek wines are three: by appellation, varietal or proprietary name. Appellations of origin (such as Naoussa or Santorini) are modeled after the French AOC system and may include Reserve or Grand Reserve wines.

Grape varietals (Roditis, for example, or Mavrodafne) also lend their names to wine labels. Finally, many proprietary names on labels (such as Zoë or Boutari Red) also abound.

Grapes
Because they derive from a language little known to us, the names of Greek grapes can be daunting (only a few “international” varieties such as Merlot are grown).

The most important white grapes are Asyrtiko (ah-SEER-tee-koh) and Savatiano (sah-vah-tee-ah-NOH), the latter the most widely planted white grape in the country and the base for most Retsina. Asyrtiko has the distinction of ripening to a high acidity and is the basis for the elegant, crisp white wines of Santorini.

The white grape Moschofilero (mo-sko-FEEL-ero) is gaining in popularity in both Greece and the U.S., for its refreshing, fruity, crisp, fresh and subtle rose petal character.

The most important red grape varieties in the country are three. Agiorgitiko (ah-vohr-YEE-tee-koh), also known as St. George, reigns in the area of Nemea and has been favorably compared, in structure and taste, with Merlot. Xynomavro (xee-NOH-mah-vroh)—a conjunction of the Greek words for “acid” and “black”—is the chief grape of the Naoussa and Goumenissa districts. The similarities between Xynomavro and Pinot Noir are compelling.

Finally, Mavrodaphne (mah-vroh-DAF-nee) is the most-planted red grape of Greece—and best known as an export—though it generally makes a red or red-brown, sweet, fortified wine.

Areas
Greece is divided into 10 wine regions, each of which has been separately recognized since well before the time of Socrates. Of these, five are important to remember.

The northern district of Macedonia takes in the important red wine producing areas of Naoussa and Goumenissa, perhaps the country’s best areas for grapes. In the midsection of the Grecian peninsula, the district of Thessaly is also renowned for red wines. The southern district of Peloponnese contains three important areas: Nemea (reds), Mantinia (whites) and Patras (sweet wines).

Two sets of islands make world-class wines as well: the Aegean islands of Santorini (dry white) and Samos (sweet white), and the Mediterranean island of Crete, perhaps the oldest wine producing area in the entire country.