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Welcome to Focus on Greece, where you can find out about the country's great grapes, read our reviews of the world's best Greek restaurants, and check out a selection of features from the Decanter magazine archive
NICO MANESSIS on the very best of Greece's grapes
For more information on the world's grape varieties, see the Great Grape Guide
Aghiorghitiko (red)
What it tastes like:
cassis
black cherries
Cassis and spice are predominant on the nose. The palate is fruit-rich with black cherries.
Aghiorghitiko, which is Greek for St George, is a real charmer, oozing with fruit and soft tannins, with a dark purple, 'black', colour. It produces wines with a wide range of styles, from light, fruity, full-flavoured rosés to medium-bodied, juicy reds and seriously fine, cask-fermented examples. Only wines made from this variety can be called Nemea, the largest of the Greek appellations. Soils vary from oxide-rich red soils to sandy clay and marl. A notion of Cru is bound to develop in lower-yield, hillside sites such as Koutsi, while other quality sites include Ancient Nemea, Gymno, Ahladia and the cooler-climate, high Nemea valley of Asprokambos. A quantum leap forward in quality has spurred substantial investment from outsiders.
Assyrtiko (white)
What it tastes like:
bone dry: honeysuckle and smoky minerals
vinsanto: raisin, dried fig and date notes
Bone-dry Santorini wines feature low-key citrus and honeysuckle aromas, with a smoky, mineral-laden palate. Vareli (cask-fermented) wines are balanced and full-bodied, with a lemony–lime, yeasty richness. The flavours of the sweet Santorini Vinsantos are determined by age. A mahogany-coloured five year old displays baked quince, while a softer 20 year old offers desiccated orange peel, fig, date, raisin and coffee notes.
Arguably Greece's finest white cultivar, Assyrtiko is more of a wine-lover's grape than a crowd pleaser, and is prized for its high acidity and staying power. It performs an admirable double act, producing fine bone-dry wines as well as amber-hued dessert wines. Although its origins lie on the volcanic island of Santorini, since the late 1970s it has adapted itself well to the diverse soils and microclimates of mainland Greece, where its unmistakable severity is softened. In northern Greece, near Thessaloniki, a leading estate blends it with the semi-aromatic, Viognier-like Malagousia. It is also grown successfully on the island of Evia, and is a vital blending component in Attica estate wines, where it is vinified alongside the Roditis and Savatiano varieties. Santorini Vinsantos are made by sun-drying Assyrtiko with 10% of the rarer, more aromatic Aidani grapes for up to 10 days. These raisined grapes, after a slow fermentation and extended cask ageing (5-20 years), produce amber-hued dessert wines.
Moschofilero (white)
What it tastes like:
rose petals, stone fruit
spicy Muscat, lychees
This high acid, grapey fruit is marked by rose-petal aromas and stone fruit flavours, with a touch of spicy Muscat and, in riper vintages, lychees. It is somewhat reminiscent of northern Italy's Traminer Aromatico.
Moschofilero's home ground is the Arcadian plateau (650m above sea level) in the central Peloponnese. In this 'cool' region, harvest starts late, usually during the first 10 days of October. Moschofilero is a blanc-de-gris variety capable of producing several styles of wine: fruit-forward whites that are light and dry, as well as high in acidity, dry and off-dry rosé wines with a insistent rose petal perfume and, more recently, sparkling wines. In Greece, there is a strong demand for Mantinia, the appellation where this variety thrives, and it has become highly fashionable thanks to its vibrancy and inherent fruitiness. Alcohol levels are low, about 11.5% abv, and reach 12% only in exceptionally ripe years.
Robola (white)
What it tastes like:
lemon
smoky flintstone
Invariably full bodied and bone dry. Lemon zest can be found on the nose and in the finish. Robola has a backbone of high acidity with a smoky, flint-stone minerality. Low yields contribute to concentrated wines of assertive character.
Robola is grown on the islands of Corfu and Zakynthos, but the finest examples come from Cephalonia, the largest of the Ionian Islands. The finest grapes are produced at high altitude (500m above sea level), on the plateau of the picturesque Omala valley, where the soil is predominantly limestone. Robola produces full-flavoured, crisp whites whose alcohol ranges from 13% to 14% abv.
Roditis (white)
What it tastes like:
light, insistent, crisp flavours
pear drops and mineral notes
These are light- to medium-weight wines, whose alcohol content ranges from 11.5% to 12%. Although flavours are invariably light and crisp, apart from a hallmark flavour of pear drops, Roditis wines can vary in style according to the microclimate and geology of the area where they are grown. Slower-ripening, cooler, north-facing vineyards at high elevations tend to produce wines with a high degree of minerality.
Roditis has a number of clones, the most aromatic being Migdali and Alepou, both of which have a pinkish skin. This grape is a crowd pleaser and, as such, is widely planted all over Greece, forming the backbone of the Patras appellation in the northwestern Peloponnese. Two emerging sub-regions have staked their claim as the best sites for Roditis: one lies on the slopes of Panachaiko Mountain, the other is in Egialia, overlooking the Gulf of Corinth. Roditis is also grown in Attica and in Beotia, while the Macedonian hillsides, northeast of Thessaloniki, are making a reputation as a new venue for the vines. The northwest version is spicier than the southern, and is making a convincing case for a tightly structured 'northern style', in contrast to the more generous wines produced in the warmer climate of the Peloponnese.
Xinomavro (red)
What it tastes like:
strawberry
game and leather
Xinomavro has a fascinating bouquet that is reminiscent, in its youth, of a warm-climate Pinot Noir. Bottle ageing develops its hallmark strawberry notes, while 5-7-year-old vintages show game and leather.
Xinomavro is, quite possibly, the greatest of Greece's red grapes and, quite definitely, a wine lover's wine. Fickle and inconsistent, it is capable of producing great wines only on specific sites and in vintages warm enough to ripen its low-tannin, high-acid grapes. The grape is, so far, unique to the central Macedonian 'Xinomavro triangle' of Naoussa, Goumenissa and Amyndeo. The longest-lived wines come from Naoussa. Here, its tough, tannic, high-acid structure resembles Barolo. Merlot is now often grown alongside Xinomavro, and various new blends have emerged. Xinomavro and its blends are food wines, ideally paired with rich dishes.
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