The state of Greek wine

While Greece struggles with many issues in their government and economy, one industry that continues to improve is wine. My recent trip allowed me a chance to check in on some of the latest releases, focusing on the indigenous varietals that many Greek winemakers are putting more focus on. Most of these wines are still more of the everyday drinking type, but there is certainly one winery that I think is capable of making some world-class reds.

To begin with, there was one very different wine we tried, the Domaine Tselepos Amalia Brut, a sparkling wine made from the Moschofilero grape. This wine won't make anyone forget the great Champagne houses, but it was a very enjoyable effort, and something I didn't know was being produced in Greece. Kudos to Tselepos for this work, which is impressive.

Among the entry-level red wines, I was very impressed this year with the Boutari Naoussa 2008. This has always been a standard table wine in Greece, but it is clear that Boutari has raised the quality of this Xinomavro-based wine. Available in the US in many places, it is a nice $10-$15 wine here. Boutari's 2004 Grand Reserve was also quite tasty, though not necessarily worth the extra cost.

Another winery from the north is Domaine Porto Carras. Among their highlights was the 2008 Limnio, an ancient varietal grown on the Chalkidiki peninsula. We also tried their Limnio-Cabernet blend, but I preferred the straight Limnio.

Katogi is a winery getting some good press here in the US for their Xinomavro, but in Greece we drank the 2008 Averoff, a blend of Agioritiko and Cabernet Sauvignon from northern Greece. It is another wine I've had many times over the years, but this was one of the stronger efforts I can recall.

Skouras is another winery that has made some inroads in the US market with their Agioritiko and Megas Oenos blend. We didn't try any of their higher-end cuvees this year, but the entry level Erythmos (90% Agioritiko and 10% Cab) was a solid wine for the price (6 euros at the local market).

Another of the bigger Greek wineries is Hatzimichalis, which has been known for their international varieties. This year, it appears they have a new effort with a line of wines that blend these varietals with the indigenous grapes. I actually don't have the notes on the wines we had, but they were solid efforts that I think were an improvement over the straight varietals like Cab or Merlot.

Finally, we come to my favorite winery in Greece, Papaioannou. This winery from the Peloponnese specializes in the Agioritiko grape with their red wines. This year, I was lucky enough to have their entry-level Agioritiko, the Ktima Papaioannou that is their single-vineyard selection, and finally the Old Vines Selection. We actually had a 2003 vintage of the entry-level bottling, and was still fresh and full of life. The single-vineyard wine steps up the quality to a level few other Greek wines reach, but the 2004 Old Vines selection was truly a special bottle. To me, this is the red wines all other Greek reds should be measured against. It has several qualities that reminded me of an aged Sangiovese, with notes of red cherry and almost a hint of sandalwood. I truly believe that if more Greek wines begin to reach this level, the industry will achieve a breakthrough in the international market.

Overall, while there were very few thrilling world-class wines I tasted, I came away impressed this year with the overall quality level of many of the entry-level Greek wines. These wines are quite inexpensive in Greece, and many that reach the US are still affordable as well. If Greek wines can reach the homes of consumers at this level, I think it will give them a chance to make future investments that lead to even higher quality wines that a few producers are already proving can be made.