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Greek Wine

HomeGreek Wine (Page 4)

  I go to Greece fairly often. It is just kind of next door and two of my best friends live in Athens. Partially for that reason, for almost two years now, I have been taking a once weekly Greek class. I have not learned that much, lazy student as I am. But I'm not learning Greek because I go to Greece frequently. Let's be honest, they all speak English ever so much better than I will every speak Greek. I'm learning the language though, because I like to learn the language of wine countries I love. And I loves me some Greek wine. Knowing this, my Greek teacher very

  I recently came back from a trip to Crete. My first time on the island, in fact my first time in ages outside of Athens. I met E&M there for M's 40th birthday. But bonus! I also got to meet up with my awesome friend Anna Maria of Unraveling Wine and Chania Wine Tours! We spent the week there in what, apparently, was some of the worst weather they've had in years. Pouring buckets of rain, what felt like gale force winds, and a 5.8 earthquake. We got rained out of several activities and/or things were closed for the season. But, a few nice moments with blue skies allowed

  I was so excited when the #WinePW 2021 calendar came out and Deanna from Wineivore suggested a Greek wine theme. You can view her initiation for this month's event here. If you can, join us on Twitter on Saturday, December 11 at 8am PT/11am ET and follow the #WinePW hashtag to join our discussion! Next to Turkish wine, I probably know Greek wine the best (which is NOT to say I'm at all an expert!). Yes we're neighbors and we share a few grapes but we don't get a lot of Greek wine in Turkey. However, two of my best friends live in Athens and regular visits over the

  I don't drink a lot of Moschofilero when I'm in Greece. But every time I do, I chide myself all over again for neglecting such a great variety. While one generally finds white wines made with Moschofilero, it is in fact a pink-skinned grape. Grown mainly on Greece's Peloponnese peninsula, this aromatic grape has a floral and grapey character often compared to Traminer and Muscat grapes. According to Yiannis Karakasis MW, Moschofilero has: "

  While Turkish wine is my raison d'etre, over the last few years I have developed deep love, enthusiasm, and respect for wines from other counties as well. I prefer white wine to red and find that I gravitate towards white wines with tightly strung energy. Their verve is electric and exciting. I've been very lucky to experience a lot of Greek wine over the last few years. Two of my best friends live in Athens, always have a couch for me, and indulge my need to explore the wine scene. Given my zeal for zesty, racy wines, it's little wonder that in Greece I lean towards wines from Santorini.

  When I'm in Athens, my friend M and I play a game. We stand in front of the wine shelves at his local grocery and pick out a few bottles with grape names unfamiliar to us. We've had some massive failures doing this. Once we got a wine that tasted like liquid perfume soap. That bottle went straight down the sink. Even though it may well be just an enormously bad example of that particular grape, we're now terrified of it. On the flip side, we have discovered a number of new (to us) varieties we like quite a lot. While I typically veer towards Greece's white grapes, I've

  It seems difficult to think of a time when Greece and Malagousia were not synonymous. Granted my entrée to Greek wine is recent. But I feel like I learned about Assyrtiko and Malagousia at a similar pace. And yet, until the 90s, Malagousia was largely unheard of. In the 1970s Professor Logothetis from the Agricultural University of Thessaloniki rented a small plot of land from Yiannis Carras. There he planted several grapes he'd encountered on his travels around Greece, including Malagousia. While his early plantings were vinified with other grapes, Evangelos Gerovassiliou, then winemaker at Domaine Carras, quickly realized its potential. He began propagating the variety at Domaine Carras

  Today is International Xinomavro Day! This new grape holiday was established only last year. While I missed my chance to post about it in 2019, I'm very excited to talk about Xinomavro this year. I previously wrote about Kokkinos Xinomavro (which was lovely). And while several bottles languish in my wine room, I do not often drink Xinomavro. At least not as often as I'd like! Today is a good reason to bust out some tasking notes though. But first, let's talk about the grape itself. Xinomavro Xinomavro (ksi-NO-mav-row) grows mainly in Northern Greece. The PDO most famous for this grape is Naoussa but it grows well also in Amyndeo, Goumenissa,

  While probably half the wines I buy in Greece invariably end up being Assyrtiko, or Assyrtiko-lead blends, I am always on the lookout for new (to me) grapes. Last year at a wine festival in Athens I tasted a 100% Athiri. Could I find it anywhere to buy? No of course not. Not on that or any subsequent trip. I did, however, get my hands on another grape often blended with Assyrtiko, Aidani. Aidani One of Greece's many indigenous white grapes, Aidani grows mainly in the Greek islands, particularly the Cyclades and Rhodes. Finding it on its own is a rarity. Most often, Aidani gets blended with Assyrtiko as part

  [caption id="attachment_14586" align="alignright" width="300"] At Cinque with Baby[/caption] For most people Greece, especially Athens, means ancient gods, lots of marble columns, islands, and maybe gyros. I've been to the ruins. I've been to an island (although just the one). And I must eat two or three pork gyros (seriously, go to Royal Souvlaki) every time I visit. But for me, Greece means friends and wine. E&M, two of my best friends, moved to Athens a few years ago. For a while I was visiting once every six to eight months. Then this last September they had a baby. Suddenly I'm tia Andrea to a baby who lives geographically much closer than my