For the capital city of an Amazing wine country, Athens airport duty free wine selection sucks. Maybe if you've only gone through the airport once or twice it's not so bad. But when you're me and you go three to five times a year
Read MoreI recently-ish wrote a post about some of the Malagousia wines I've enjoyed. I somehow left out the Ktima Zafeirakis Malagousia. Which is crazy since this is quickly becoming one of my favorite Greek wineries with things like its Limnioa, and "Little Bear" white blend. Making wine in the PGI Tyrnavos area of Thessaly, Ktmia Zafeirakis is a Biohellas-certified organic farming, family-run winery. The winery makes several wines with Malagousia grown in sandy0clay soils with lots of flint. Malagousia appears in varietal and blends for Zafeirakis and this was one of the winery's varietal bottlings, aged three to four months in the tank before bottling. Ktima Zafeirakis Malagousia, 2019 Warm,
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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
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[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
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Ever having tried Domaine Porto Carras' sparkling wine Yliana I've been wanting to try more of the winery's wines. During my next trip to Greece I kept a look out for the domaine's wines and happily found one. And not just any wine, my new (Greek) obsession Malagousia. Malagousia (or Malagouzia) is an aromatic white grape grown primarily in central Greece and Greek Macedonia. The pale yellow wines which are given by Malagousia have intense aromatic content that refers to white flesh fruits such as peach, fresh aromatic herbs, green pepper and citrus, while some notes of muscat stand out. According to Konstantinos Lazarakis MW, Malagousia's resurgence started in
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Georgia wasn’t my only wine-focused trip in May! E&M were spending the month in Athens sorting out E’s Greek citizenship (me = green with envy!) and had several times encouraged us to visit. Having just returned from a whirlwind trip to Tbilisi I was reluctant to do so. Until they sent me pictures of the inside of their local wine shop with promises to take me. My arm sufficiently twisted I booked a flight and prepared to spend a long weekend exploring the Athens wine scene. Then Em fell victim to a visa snafu and had to leave the country within 10 days. So early one Friday morning we
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