Greece’s Oenorama 19
While Turkish wine may be my raison d’être, that certainly doesn’t preclude enjoying wine from other countries. Greece in particular has 
captured me over the last couple years so I was thrilled to learn about the Oenorama event held every spring in Athens. So, with my cat being looked after by neighbor’s son I was able to take a quick flight to Greece for a lovely long weekend.
Oenorama started in 1994. While there are many wine festivals in Greece that focus on specific regions (for example the Peleponnese Wine Festival that occurred in February), Oenorama brings together wineries from all over Greece. This year over 200 wineries and related businesses took part in the March 2-4 festival. For a mere 12 Euros, attendees gained access for two days of tasting (the third day reserved for industry professionals) at the beautiful Zappion; an agora where wealthy Athenians went to buy high-end products.
With hundreds of wine options to taste one must be strategic! As ever, my priority went to wines made with native varieties. I know and love wines made from Assyrtiko, Malagousia, Moscofilero, Savatiano, Agiogitiko, and Xinomavro and, while I did not eschew samples of some of these, my focus was grapes with which I was unfamiliar. My flying visits to the country over the last few years have taught me only a handful of words and while I’d love to learn Greek, I have enough to deal with getting my brain wrapped around Turkish. Luckily, Greece has a high level of English speakers which is fantastic because it enabled me to talk to a lot of the winemakers and winery reps. I came away with a whole new list of grapes and wineries to appreciate; and hopefully to visit on future trips!
I developed a deeper appreciation of wine made from Vidiano and Robolla which I’d had before but not 
extensively explored. I learned about Athiri, native to Santorini, which is usually blended. However, I did manage to find one or two varietal examples and fell in love! Other white varieties I tried included: Fileri, Kidonitsa, Monemvassia, Sideritis, Asproudes, Thrapsathiri, Debina, Aidani, and more! Red Greek wine has not excited me as much as white but again, I got to try so many varieties about which I previously knew nothing. Mavrodaphne, Mavrudi (which we know here in Turkey as Mavrud), Mouchtaro (a teinturier grape being cultivated only by Samartzis Winery), Limnia, Mavrotragano, Avgoustiatis, Mavrothiriko, Negoska, and Vlachiko.
Oenorama presented not only a chance to try new grapes but to learn about some of the new things happening in Greek wine. Winemakers are experimenting with skin contact (amber) wines more and more. Domaine Foivos brought several examples of its Nautilus line-wines aged underwater in both fresh and salt water. Domaine Sigalas, one of my favorite Santorini-based wineries is experimenting with single-village Assyrtiko wines that could potentially form one of Greece’s first crus! Biodynamic wine is on the rise as is natural wine. In fact the Friday before Oenorama I attended a small but enthusiastic showing of some of Greece’s leading biodynamic wineries, many of which also made natural wine.
Of course one must break for meals! Luckily enough the friends I stay with in Athens are tolerant of my desire to have pork on a daily basis. It’s not that we can’t get pork in Turkey…but it’s not the easiest. Pork gyros and tomahawk steaks are definitely not available! Nor is good Mexican food let alone tacos with pulled pork or chiorizo!
One of the exhibitions at Oenorama, Wine Revelations, featured wineries that are new and/or working with little-known grapes. Here I met with two different wineries, Lipsi and Tsantiris, working with a grape called Fokiano. At the Lipsi Winery stand they told me that this grape is actually Turkish and comes from the Aegean coast…then it clicked. This was in fact our Foça Karası! Little known even in Turkey and currently championed by just three wineries: Öküzgözü, USCA, and Urla. These wineries are using the grape in so many interesting ways. In addition to the red blends and varietals that we see here in Turkey, Lipsi and Tsantiris make blanc de noir, rosé, and even Vinsanto-style sweet wines with Fokaino! I hope we start seeing some of that innovation here soon as well.
One of the things I love about Greek wine (aside from simply how delicious it is!) is that it’s been 
something of a dark horse in the European wine world. It was not all that long ago that Greek wine consisted largely of table wine. Neither very bad nor very good, mostly it was simply indifferent. The advent of boutique wineries, fine dining, and tourist demand helped push the industry forward. Now it’s one of the most dynamic wine countries in Europe! What really captures me though is how similar the Turkish wine scene could be.
The Turkey-Greek population exchange of the 1920s effectively stymied the growth of the wine industry here for decades. Lack of wine culture and understanding, difficulty pairing wine with Turkish cuisine, falling tourism numbers, and of course, the current regime have in no way helped it. The people here who bravely go into the industry despite the many roadblocks in front of them do it for love of wine and the hope of at least breaking even. We have also seen an explosion of small scale and boutique wineries since the late 90s but the economy and other factors continue to oppress the boom the industry could have.
For many reasons, Greek wine is not widely available in Turkey. In fact I’ve only ever seen one commercially available here in Istanbul. Several of the winemakers I met expressed their desire, and very real frustration, about their inability to get their wine into Turkey. An 80% import tax would be quite daunting if you were trying to make a sale. Imported wine in Turkey is crazy expensive, and that’s usually