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Kechris "Tear of the Pine" 2022 and 2024 Compared

In June 2026, two bottles of the same wine stood side by side on the table. One is the first Retsina ever to achieve Best in Show at the Decanter World Wine Awards: 2024, with 97 points, as one of 50 out of 18,143 wines entered. The other is barely known outside Greece. By the end of the evening, the famous vintage stood at 91 points, the unknown one at 93. This is not a provocation, nor a quarrel over categories. It is the result of a direct comparison, and it runs counter t

Griechische Weine

6 hours ago6 min read

Oinotropai: Finally There in Person, After Four Years in the Glass

Messenia is close to my heart, and I am often in the area. One estate I have followed for years without ever having been there: Ktima Oinotropai in Zevgolatio, a few kilometres outside Kalamata. Vasilis and Maria Kapopoulos make around thirty thousand bottles a year there, on the Messenian plain, a place hardly anyone associates with great wine. My engagement with the estate began in 2022, with the first bottle in the glass. The Roditis 2019 stood at 93 points - quite a state

Griechische Weine

Aug 264 min read

The Swiss Man Never Paid: La Tour Melas versus Saint-Émilion

This is how they tell it at La Tour Melas: at a dinner in Zurich, sometime around the turn of the millennium, Kyros Melas made a bet with a Swiss banking colleague. Melas, a businessman and lover of Château Lafleur, claimed he could produce a wine in Greece to rival the Pomerol star. From 2000 onward he planted French vines in Achinos, in Fthiotida - in a region without any winegrowing tradition whatsoever. To this day the Swiss man has not paid - his argument being: French w

Griechische Weine

Aug 198 min read

Agiorgitiko: Greece's Most Planted Red Wine

Agiorgitiko from Nemea: how it tastes, which styles exist and what it pairs with – plus 39 of our own tasting notes and our best-of list.

Griechische Weine

Aug 216 min read

Limnio – from Aristotle to the Greek wine revolution

Which Greek red grape variety do you suppose sits in most of the bottles in my collection? No, not Xinomavro (in German) – I own that mostly as a single-varietal wine, which limits the number. No, not Agiorgitiko (in German) either, which is also often used as a blending partner – though then rather in cuvées with international varieties, usually more as a small addition to Bordeaux blends with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. (For how it tastes as a single varietal, see our Ag

Griechische Weine

Aug 211 min read

The Best Greek Wines of the First Half of 2026

Four-decade-old legends alongside wines that have only just reached the shelves; monastery wines from Mount Athos next to a Tuscan that lined up as the benchmark: in the first half of 2026, 62 new tasting notes appeared on griechische-weine.info – 60 reds, two whites, among them a striking number of vertical tastings. We didn't drink all of it this spring: many of the wines come from tastings in 2024 and 2025 and have only now been digitised. So this is less a diary of the se

Griechische Weine

Jul 276 min read

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Why this Amyndeon red isn't allowed to say Amyndeo on the label

Alpha Estate Axia 2022 – PGI Florina, Macedonia | 90/100 🍷

The Axia is the more approachable red from Alpha Estate (@alpha_estate), below the estate's icons: 50% Xinomavro, 50% Syrah. And that blend explains the label – PDO Amyndeo demands pure Xinomavro for reds, so a 50/50 with Syrah has to run as PGI Florina. The fruit comes from the Petres and Dromos parcels on the Amyndeon plateau at 620–710 metres: sandy soils, cool nights, NW winds. Hand-picked in small crates, cold maceration, twelve months in Allier oak with a medium-light toast, then bottle ageing – all in the hands of the two founders of this estate, started in 1997 with 220 hectares of high-altitude vineyard: vine grower Makis Mavridis and winemaker Angelos Iatridis.

2022 counts as a very good vintage in Macedonia, and Amyndeon had the edge: the critical moment was 100 mm of rain in early September, and what saved the harvest were roughly forty hot days with cool nights afterwards – extremely favourable for Xinomavro in this zone.

In the glass: dried tomato on the nose, the Xinomavro coming through nicely. The palate shows its tannin first, then dark fruit steers it back – blueberry and cherry, a touch peppery, the 14.5% well integrated. A tasty wine, and a good introduction to Xinomavro if you don't want the full punch straight away.

The drinking window has me torn. My experience with the 2017 urges caution: 92 in 2021 at four years, 90+ in 2024 at seven, then 89 in June 2026 at nine – past its peak. The 2022 shows almost nothing at four years, but neither did the 2017 at that stage. So I stay cautious: drink by 2030, with the option to revise upwards at a later tasting. A few years ago this was one of the best reds under ten euros; it now sits at around 12.50–14.95. 90/100.

Full note in our database – link in bio.

Xinomavro rookie or full-throttle fan – which are you? 👇

#GreekWine #Xinomavro #Syrah #Amyndeon #AlphaEstate

The best Amethystos I've had – and it's under 20 euros

Domaine Costa Lazaridi Amethystos Rouge 2023 – PGI Drama, Macedonia | 93/100 🍷

The Amethystos Rouge is the oldest red label at @estates_costa_lazaridi in Drama, a Bordeaux blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 10% Agiorgitiko whose reds have had Michel Rolland consulting for years. It's named after the amethyst, the stone antiquity believed could ward off drunkenness. Under twenty euros, it's a reliable, widely available bottle I keep following: I had the 2018 and the 2015 in 2021, three and six years on, at 89 and 91.

2023 was a good year in Macedonia (going by the Xinomavro up in the northwest, at least – only a rough guide for the Bordeaux grapes down in Drama), so I was curious where this would land. It surprised me. Raspberry, blackberry, blueberry and a whisper of juniper on the nose, and none of the heavy vanilla that smothered some older vintages. On the palate it fills the whole mouth at once: berry, a touch of ink, that roasted green-pepper streak Cabernet loves to bring, and 14% alcohol held in nice balance by the acidity.

The flow runs long, though the grand unfolding of complexity never quite arrives – it sates rather than fans out, which is exactly what makes it so easy to drink, even for people who usually dodge big, heavy reds. For me this is the best Amethystos I've had, and remarkable for the vintage and the price. 93 points.

More in our database of more than 500 Greek wines at griechische-weine.info.

Send this to the friend who swears they don't drink big, heavy reds.

#GreekWine #WinesOfGreece #Drama #CabernetSauvignon #BordeauxBlend

Santorini almost lost this black grape – now it's a 15% beast.

Hatzidakis Mavrotragano 2017 – PGI Cyclades | 93/100 🍷

On Santorini, Mavrotragano was all but extinct: a black grape whose name Yiannis Karakasis (@yianniskarakasismw) translates as "crunchy." Producers like organic pioneer @hatzidakis_winery, founded in 1997, dragged it back into a single-varietal red. This one is 100% Mavrotragano off unirrigated vines up to a hundred years old with tiny yields, eighteen months in French oak, bottled unfiltered.

2017 was a hot year here. After a fine spring, late-June heatwaves brought serious sunburn, and anyone who didn't pick early ended up with broad, boozy wines. But from such old, sparse vines a scorcher yields power, not heat. At 15% this is a beast, and you feel the vintage. Cherry, then undergrowth, and with warmth in the glass, mocha. The tannin grips hard and virtually seals the mouth without turning coarse, over a creamy texture, a note of shoe polish, an initial finish that's salty then bloody. Structure, not jam.

For me that's 93 points, and the price keeps pace: I had Argyros's 2017 Mavrotragano at 90+, and the Hatzidakis 2017 is already sold out. Mature 2014 and 2015 bottles run about 130-137 euros in specialist shops, the current release around 65-75.

More in our database of more than 500 Greek wines at griechische-weine.info.

Save this for the next time you're after a Santorini red.

#GreekWine #WinesOfGreece #Santorini #Mavrotragano #OldVines

Another Ramnista that didn't quite win me over - but still was a fascinating experience.

Ktima Kir-Yianni Ramnista 2010 – PDO Naoussa, Macedonia | 88/100 🍷

Ramnista is @kiryianni's benchmark Xinomavro, the first wine Yiannis Boutaris put on the road after leaving the family firm. Single-varietal Naoussa, 100% Xinomavro, often called the Greek Nebbiolo, and at around twenty euros a fairly priced classic. I know it across many vintages. In 2024 I had the 2006, 2017, 2018 and 2019 in the glass at 86, 90, 90 and 88. The estate itself rates 2010 only middling, three of five stars, a difficult cool and damp year that still turned out well, fresh and age-worthy for Naoussa, with Ramnista around 89.

Sixteen years on it smells wonderfully true to type: overripe tomato, a touch of dried strawberry, cedar wood. In colour and aroma it hardly seems old. On the palate, though, it's a bit of a letdown. It has two good decades ahead of it but I don't think it will ever reach polished elegance. Quite astringent, plenty of fruit (unlike the 2006, which was already well past it), and the 13.5% alcohol sits nicely against the acidity. What's missing is finesse in the mid-palate and a finish that gives the parched mouth one last burst.

For me, 88 points. Once again a Ramnista that didn't quite win me over. Still, tasting a 16 year old Greek wine of that quality is always an emotional experience for me.

More in our database of more than 500 Greek wines at griechische-weine.info.

Comment HOLD or DRINK – how do you play your aged Xinomavro?

#GreekWine #WinesOfGreece #Xinomavro #Naoussa #Nebbiolo

The estate ranked this Syrah lowest – it beat both siblings.

Panagiotopoulos Tomos III Syrah 2013 – PGI Trifilia, Peloponnese | 93/100 🍷

Tomos III is the organic Syrah in the Panagiotopoulos (@panagiotopoulos_wines) premium trio of Cabernet (I), Merlot (II) and Syrah (III), all from certified-organic Trifilia sites and long in oak. The estate’s own ranking is hard to follow, though: Cabernet and Merlot count as “Super Premium”, the Syrah only as “Premium”, and the top “Ultra Premium” tier goes not to a Tomos at all but to the separate Cabernet cuvée “36”.

Yet the Tomos III is technically no simpler than its siblings. A single-variety Syrah from a certified-organic site at 500 m, hand-picked, 24 months in 225-litre French oak, 13.5%, a good 8,500 bottles, around €40–60.

2013 was a very good to excellent Greek red-wine year, with early healthy ripeness, mild summer heat and retained acidity, ideal for a Syrah keeping spice and fruit; picked 25 September. I had three Tomos wines side by side, the Cabernet 2013, the Merlot 2014 and this Syrah 2013, curious whether the official ranking would hold in the glass. Very fruity nose, full of blueberry, a little dark chocolate, a touch of balsamic. On the palate, unlike the Cabernet with its grippier, longer-lived tannins, it carries more fruit throughout, with an animating, fruity acidity at the back. Of the three, this Syrah is best by far, no way behind its higher-ranked siblings. The second wave of the finish could be a touch better.

A really terrific wine, worth 93 points. It should peak only in about five years, with a good fifteen years of ageing ahead. Which leaves the official hierarchy fully upside down: the lowest-ranked of the three was the most convincing in the glass.

A much more detailed review lives in our site’s tasting-note database of 500+ Greek wines.

Save this for the next time someone claims Greek Syrah can't age.

#GreekWine #Syrah #WinesOfGreece #OrganicWine #GreekRedWine

A boutique Greek Merlot named for its soul

Tsolis Anny’s Animus Merlot 2014 – PGI Trifilia, Peloponnese | 91/100 🍷

Anny’s Animus is the boutique Merlot of Tsolis in Gargalianoi, Messinia, a small, ambitious house that put the region on the map for international reds. Konstantinos Tsolis began in 1993 with Cabernet planted back in the ’80s, and Phillipos Koukis has made the wine since 1999. The name is no accident: the poetic back label tells the wine like a person, born in Trifilia, raised in oak, settled in the bottle, and grants it above all a soul, hence Animus; even the label art is by a painter, Eleni Michalakopoulou.

It is a single-variety Merlot from PGI Trifilia, 13.5%, by the back label 18 months in oak then 24 in bottle, deliberately aged long and released mature. It sells for around €26.

2014 was cool, wet and difficult in Messinia, with spring rain, early-summer hail and fungal pressure, so picking ran about two weeks late and the wines tended lighter and more aromatic; that this Merlot matches the 2013’s 13.5% suggests it still ripened well, not picked too early. I tasted it beside the same-aged Tomos II Merlot from Panagiotopoulos (@panagiotopoulos_wines), and the edge showed on the nose at once. It is not quite as fresh as the Tomos II, but the nose is more intense, with genuinely inviting plum. On the palate an acidity keeps lifting it, not all the way through but always resurfacing, and there is still fruit on the finish. A really well-made, well-aged Merlot at its peak.

Precisely because it is this good, I’d drink it over the next five years; there is something to lose here. For me, 91 points.

A much more detailed review lives in our site’s tasting-note database of 500+ Greek wines.

Save this if a bottle's waiting in your rack – it's drinking at its peak now.

#GreekWine #Merlot #WinesOfGreece #BoutiqueWine #GreekRedWine

The trio's lowest-ranked wine beat its Super Premium Merlot.

Panagiotopoulos Tomos II Merlot 2014 – PGI Trifilia, Peloponnese | 89/100 🍷

Tomos II is the organic, oak-driven Merlot in the Panagiotopoulos (@panagiotopoulos_wines) reserve trio of Cabernet (I), Merlot (II) and Syrah (III), each from certified-organic Trifilia sites and two years in barrel. Far more ambitious than the estate’s plain, shorter-aged Merlot. It comes from a single organic site at 500 m, hand-picked on 10 September 2014, 24 months in 225-litre French oak, 14.5%, a good 8,200 bottles, around €20–30.

The estate’s internal ranking is hard to follow: it files both this Merlot and the Tomos I Cabernet as “Super Premium”, the Tomos III Syrah only as “Premium”, and reserves “Ultra Premium” for the separate Cabernet cuvée “36”.

2014 was no easy vintage in the Peloponnese, cool and damp, with rain, disease pressure and a need for strict selection; the early pick on 10 September likely helped the Merlot dodge the later autumn rain. As the third Tomos wine in my glass, after the Cabernet 2013 and Syrah 2013, this Merlot still shows very, very fresh. After a fruit-led nose, though, it is simply too soft on the palate, with little tension or variation to make it exciting. A same-aged Anny’s Animus 2014 alongside showed just how much that tension is missing: less fresh, yes, but with a more intense, plummy nose and an acidity that kept lifting it.

That is 89 points for me. It should hold them for a long time, and in a few years it will stand ahead of many other Greek 2014 Merlots, few of which age this fresh. Telling that the Syrah, officially the lowest of the three, was my favourite in the glass, and this Super Premium Merlot the least exciting.

A much more detailed review lives in our site’s tasting-note database of 500+ Greek wines.

Comment one Greek Merlot you think has real tension.

#GreekWine #Merlot #WinesOfGreece #OrganicWine #GreekRedWine

This Cabernet turned thirteen and still drinks astonishingly easy.

Panagiotopoulos Tomos I Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 – PGI Trifilia, Peloponnese | 90/100 🍷

Tomos I is the organic Cabernet of Panagiotopoulos (@panagiotopoulos_wines), heir to the vine Dimitris Panagiotopoulos started with at Pyrgos Trifilias in 1982. The line runs back to a first 2000 vintage but has worn the name “Tomos I” only since 2013 (volume one of an organic trio with Tomos II Merlot and Tomos III Syrah); the older 2010 I reviewed still went out as plain “Cabernet Sauvignon Bio”. It is a single-site organic Cabernet at 500 m, 24 months in 225-litre French oak, 13.5%, just 6,900 bottles, around €24.

The estate’s hierarchy is hard to follow, though: the Tomos III Syrah counts as mere “Premium” and this Tomos I as “Super Premium”, yet poured side by side the Syrah convinced me clearly more.

2013 was a healthy, balanced year for Greek reds, ripe but not overripe; the Cabernet came in on 20 September. Curious how it would show after thirteen years, I tasted it. Still plenty of blackcurrant on the nose, very varietal. The attack is a touch flat, the colour not especially dense, but it drinks beautifully, astonishingly easy for a thirteen-year-old. Lots of drive, supple in the mouth, a light Cabernet rather than a heavyweight despite the oak. The finish stays rather short for this tier.

For me it is 90 points; the 2010 sits at the same level today. It is at its peak now, and I see no reason it shouldn’t hold another decade, so anyone with a bottle can open it without hesitation.

A much more detailed review lives in our site’s tasting-note database of 500+ Greek wines.

Save this if you've got an aged Greek Cabernet waiting to be opened.

#GreekWine #CabernetSauvignon #WinesOfGreece #OrganicWine #GreekReds

A Greek Cabernet released more than a decade after harvest.

Panagiotopoulos Cabernet Sauvignon Bio 2010 – PGI Trifilia, Peloponnese | 90/100 🍷

At Panagiotopoulos (@panagiotopoulos_wines) in western-Peloponnesian Trifilia, Cabernet was the lead grape from the start: Dimitris Panagiotopoulos planted his first vines at Pachimari near Pyrgos Trifilias in 1982, long before the present winery rose in 2005. This organic Cabernet ages like almost no other Greek example: 24 months in French oak, then over ten years in the cellar before the 12,000 bottles were released. The premium organic bottling, “Tomos I” since 2013, runs about €25–30 today.

2010 gave Trifilia a warm, dry summer, ideal for colour, tannin and dark fruit, then a wetter September and October that forced late picking and strict selection. The wine still carries that structure, the organic bottling even more so: in 2018 Simos Georgopoulos found it fresher, more tannic and less evolved than its conventional twin of the same age, and gave it five more years. The reserve proved real, and in 2024, at fourteen, it took gold at Japan’s Sakura Awards. Among the estate’s Cabernets, 2010 is less the early medal-winner than the wilful long-distance runner. So, with high expectations, I tasted it.

Lots of inviting toffee on the nose, some eucalyptus, a little undergrowth. The attack still brings plenty of red fruit, then cocoa-like tannin. Acidity is good up front, yet flavour and tannin flatten fast. At 14% the alcohol stays discreet and the finish holds quite long; structure tails off at the back, so the acidity rather fizzles out too.

A good wine, and one I’d give 90 points. It should hold here for the next five years, to 2031, and likely a decade on.

A much more detailed review lives in our site’s tasting-note database of 500+ Greek wines.

Save this for the next time someone says Greek Cabernet doesn't age.

#GreekWine #CabernetSauvignon #WinesOfGreece #OrganicWine #AgedRed

A Greek white deliberately aged ten years before release.

Ktima Biblia Chora Etos Semillon & Assyrtiko 2012 – PGI Pangeon, Macedonia | 95/100 🍷

Etos is @ktimabibliachora's exception series: made only in great vintages, from the best parcels, aged around ten years before release. So this 2012 only reached the market in 2022. I know the red Etos (the Cabernet, the Merlot) around 95–96 points – here it's the white, from Semillon and Assyrtiko. Two Bordeaux-trained oenologists made it, and Vassilis Tsaktsarlis learned there under Denis Dubourdieu himself, the master of white Bordeaux from Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc. At roughly 70–80 euros, it's a rare, deliberately aged white.

In the glass it's already dark, almost orange. The nose is mineral: dried fruit, quince, honeydew, floral top notes, little exoticism – and honestly, you miss the Sauvignon Blanc that Dubourdieu would have folded in. The palate has real grip on the attack, then an incredible creaminess and a long, peach-driven finish. Drink it properly cold and the acidity snaps into focus with a few citrus notes; let it warm and it goes a shade slack. Not fully in balance because of that, but stylistically it stands completely alone. With salmon pasta or other rich, fatty dishes it plays that creaminess brilliantly.

95 points for me. A genuinely fantastic wine – that comes at a price.

More in our database of more than 500 Greek wines at griechische-weine.info.

Cellar it or drink it on release? Comment your one-word pick.

#GreekWine #WinesOfGreece #Assyrtiko #Semillon #Pangeon

An Alpha white you don't need to wait two years for.

Alpha Estate Malagouzia “Turtles” 2025 – PGI Florina | 92/100 🍷

Alpha Estate (@alpha_estate) in high-altitude Amyndeon is among Greece’s most technically accomplished wineries, and its Malagouzia “Turtles” (named for the turtles nesting by the vines at 670 m) is a flagship. Two nearby lakes temper the climate, ripening this aromatic, once near-extinct variety slowly. It sees no oak, built on cold maceration, brief skin contact, stainless fermentation and two months on lees, so the creaminess is fruit and lees, not wood. Around €13.

Malagouzia’s picking date is delicate, and Yiannis Karakasis (@yianniskarakasismw) put it well: below ~13.2% the fresh citrus leads; above 13.5% the terpenes turn muscaty and the variety loses typicity, the herbal-floral notes belonging to cooler sites. Turtles is one of Greece’s coolest zones, so this wine is herbal-floral by nature.

2025 was warm and sunny enough for ripe fruit, with cool nights for freshness, where the wet 2020 came in greener at a bare 13%. The alcohol step alone explains little; the whole weather pattern pushed the green back, bringing peach, pome fruit and blossom forward without tipping into muscat, at the window’s upper edge. Curious whether the tightrope act comes off, I tasted it.

Lovely pome fruit on the nose, almost as peachy as Gerovassiliou (@ktima_gerovassiliou), with fine white blossom. On the palate all Malagouzia, barely herbal now; a pleasant acidity carries far before the lees-driven creaminess takes over. A long, coherent finish. I’m quite floored.

Alpha’s whites often seem to need two more years to show best. Not here; this drinks perfectly already. A very clear 92 points, no reason to wait.

A much more detailed review lives in our site’s tasting-note database of 500+ Greek wines.

Save this for the next time you want a Greek white you can open tonight.

#GreekWine #Malagouzia #WinesOfGreece #GreekWhiteWine #AromaticWhite

A twelve-euro Greek red I've been following for five years

Alpha Estate Axia 2017 – Florina, Macedonia | 89/100 🍷

Axia is Greek for "value", and Alpha Estate (@alpha_estate) means it: half Xinomavro, half Syrah from the cool high plateau of Amyndeon in north-western Greece, twelve months in Allier oak, another year in bottle before release – all for around 12 euros. Because the Syrah share rules out PDO Amyndeon, which demands pure Xinomavro, the wine goes out as PGI Florina. The idea is simple: Syrah brings dark fruit, pepper and body, Xinomavro brings acidity, tannin, red fruit and the backbone for ageing.

As a vintage, 2017 was dry and early in Amyndeon, with hail in some sites but strong quality overall – Xinomavro and Syrah both ripened well.

In 2021, at four years old, this was a fruit bomb with real structure – 92 for me, and one of the best value buys I knew; it was even under 10 euros when I bought this vintage. In 2024, at seven, it was still surprisingly fresh: 90+. Now, at nine, the raspberry on the nose still recalls the wine it once was, with a touch of strawberry. On the palate the Xinomavro structure stands out because the wine beneath has flattened; you feel your way along the tannin, ask yourself whether there is something faintly metallic in there, and the finish leaves acidity above all. Not much tertiary yet – a little caramel, a hint of sage.

So drink it now, and enjoy it now – it won't improve, but at this price it never had to. 89/100.

Full note in our database – link in bio.

Xinomavro's grip or Syrah's dark fruit – which camp are you in? 👇

#GreekWine #Xinomavro #Syrah #Amyndeon #ValueWine

Protected origin on one side, the more interesting wine on the other

Estate Manolesakis Gennima Psychis White 2025 vs Passas Mavra Nera White 2025 – PGI Drama vs Thrace | 87 vs 90/100 🍷

Two whites that look alike on paper: both built on Sauvignon Blanc and Assyrtiko, both from Greece's north-east – and a border runs between them. Manolesakis (@estatemanolesakis) sits in Adriani, right inside PGI Drama. Passas (@passaswinery) lies a few kilometres further east in Stavrochori, Thrace, outside any protected origin: the village isn't on the PGI Thrace commune list, and the Vidiano in the blend wouldn't be permitted there anyway.

Passas is a story in itself. Viticulture had all but vanished from this corner for about a hundred years – tobacco had crowded everything out. Kyriakos Papadopoulos and his wife Sara, tobacco and apple farmers themselves, planted the first vines in 2007; the winery followed in 2016.

The year was kind on both sides of the line: 2025 was Drama's strongest vintage since 2020, and nationally a good year with milder temperatures and few extremes.

In the glass, one grape, two directions. The Gennima Psychis (70% Sauvignon Blanc) shows honey, a trace of mint, nectarine, then grip that slightly smothers the acidity and a short, herbal-grassy finish – a lovely drinking wine, very good with white fish, from €12.40 at the estate. The Mavra Nera (40% Assyrtiko, 30% Vidiano, 30% Sauvignon Blanc) is clearly more intense: jasmine, green apple, passion fruit, acidity that grabs from the first contact, mirabelle rolling across a surprisingly mouth-filling palate – and only in the finish does the Sauvignon Blanc emerge, exotic and fruity. Around €11 in Germany.

The border tells you nothing about the glass: the wine inside the appellation lands at 87, the one from outside at 90.

Full notes in our database – link in bio.

Sauvignon Blanc grassy or exotic – which camp are you in? 👇

#GreekWine #SauvignonBlanc #Assyrtiko #Vidiano #GreekWhiteWine

The Swiss banker never paid up. He might want to reconsider.

La Tour Melas 2020 vs Château Trotte Vieille 2020 – Fthiotida vs Saint-Émilion | both 95/100 🍷

Kyros Melas, businessman and Château Lafleur devotee, bet a Swiss banking colleague over dinner in Zurich that he could make a Greek wine to rival the Pomerol star. From 2000/2001 he planted French vines at Achinos in Fthiotida, a region with no established wine tradition. The banker never paid; French wines, he argued, age better. So I restaged the bet: the 2020 – 60% Cabernet Franc, 40% Merlot, just 4,700 bottles – against a Premier Grand Cru Classé from Saint-Émilion. The duel runs in the family: in 2024 I put the 2019 La Tour Melas (@latourmelas), at five years, against Château La Gaffelière 2019 – 94 points then.

2020 flattered both regions. On Bordeaux's right bank it counts as the classic of the 2018/2019/2020 trio: 55 days of summer drought, turned into concentration rather than stress on the water-retaining limestone-clay soils. In Central Greece, 2020 is regarded as an exceptionally fresh year – moderate weather, phenolic ripeness with acidity intact.

One expectation gets flipped here: the Greek is the pricier bottle – €119 in Germany against roughly €90–108 for the Bordeaux. In the glass, the Trotte Vieille (@chateautrottevieille), half Merlot, half Cabernet Franc, is a powerhouse on the nose – you drink against a wall of density – yet on the palate more dense than complex, with oxidative notes that make me doubt a twenty-year window. The La Tour Melas counters with a beguiling floral nose, blackberry a notch above the 2019, grippy tannin that breaks a little too fast, then a smoky, sloe-tinged finish.

A bet worth restaging – and the makings of 96, 97, perhaps even 98 are clearly there for future vintages. For now, 95/100 for both: on quality a dead heat!

Full notes in our database – link in bio.

Would you have paid up? 👇

#GreekWine #CabernetFranc #Fthiotida #SaintEmilion #Bordeaux

In one of these rosés, even the Greek grape is an immigrant

Diamantakis Prinos Rosé 2025 vs Estate Manolesakis Gennima Psichis Rosé 2025 – Crete vs Drama | 86 vs 87/100 🍷

My two pizza rosés from northern and southern Greece – Diamantakis (@diamantakis_winery) on Crete, Estate Manolesakis (@estatemanolesakis) in Drama: both 2025, both Syrah-led blends with a Greek variety, both 13.5%, both on the darker side. But the Cretan pairs its Syrah with Mandilaria, a genuinely autochthonous island grape – while the wine from Drama uses Agiorgitiko, a variety that originates in Nemea near Corinth, on the Peloponnese. In the northern wine, the Greek grape is itself a migrant.

The vintages differ too. 2025 was hard on Crete: the fourth drought year in a row, two heatwaves in July and August, yields down by up to 50%. In Drama, 2025 was a strong year – winter snow and spring rain filled the water reserves, ripening was mild, and picking started on 7 August, right on schedule.

The Prinos (70% Syrah, 30% Mandilaria, €4.90 ex-cellar) shows red fruit and a touch of caramel on the nose, then turns very creamy, almost oily on the palate – slightly oxidative, plenty of caramel, and at 4.95 g/l I miss a little acidity. The Gennima Psichis (60% Syrah, 40% Agiorgitiko) is cooler-styled: mint, a little blueberry, then a gripping 6.05 g/l of acidity and coarse, chalky tannin. Edges rather than polish.

To be fair: if you prefer quickly drinkable, easy elegance, the Prinos may actually taste better to you – the one-point gap is a matter of style, not a quality divide. Drink both now; the Drama wine can also wait a year. 86 and 87/100.

Full notes in our database – link in bio.

Creamy south or edgy north – which one lands next to your pizza? 👇

#GreekWine #GreekRosé #Syrah #Mandilaria #Agiorgitiko

Two wines from one monastic cellar – and only one nails Limnio

Metochi Mylopotamos Epifanis 2016 vs Mylopotamos Red 2017 – Mount Athos | 93 vs 88/100 🍷

Our article on Limnio – from Aristotle to the Greek wine revolution – has just gone live, and with it the notes from the tasting behind it, from April 2025. Two of those bottles came from Metochi Mylopotamos (@metochi.mylopotamos), the small organic winery of the Holy Cell of St Eustathios, a dependency of Megisti Lavra, the oldest monastery on the Holy Mountain. Winemaking here dates back to before 973 AD; after a long period of decline, the monk Epiphanios drove the revival of the vineyards from 1990 on – today around 5 hectares, farmed organically.

The Epifanis 2016 (14.8%) is the monastery's flagship and, going by the best vintage-specific sources, most likely 100% Limnio – a probability, mind you, not a label claim. Fascinating nose of plum with earthy undertones; on the palate an excellent acidity that carries the wine a very long way, very fine but present tannin gliding across the whole mouth, good salinity, a long herbal finish. An excellent introduction to the strengths of the variety – and the best monovarietal Limnio portrait of the entire tasting.

The Mylopotamos Red 2017 (14%) blends Limnio with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Beguilingly sweet nose of blossoms and sweet red fruits, and pleasingly good acidity that keeps it fresh and balanced – but the finish is short and disappointing.

The pure Limnio shows what the grape can do; the cuvée shows where it gets diluted: 93 vs 88/100.

More in our article on this tasting – link in bio.

Pure Limnio or the international blend – which glass first? 👇

#GreekWine #Limnio #MountAthos #GreekRedWine #MonasteryWine

This Cretan grape usually needs a partner. Not here.

Lyrarakis Kotsifali Queen 2023 – Crete | 88/100 🍷

Lyrarakis (@lyrarakiswines), founded in 1966 by the brothers Manolis and Sotiris Lyrarakis in Alagni near Heraklion and now run by the second generation, is the reason varieties like Dafni, Plyto and Melissaki still exist at all. In the "Queens" line, four Cretan grapes each get a solo turn – this one is Kotsifali, from a north-facing vineyard at 500 metres on loamy sand, unoaked, all stainless steel.

There's a twist behind the PGI Crete label: the red PDOs Peza and Archanes traditionally mean Kotsifali blended with Mandilaria, so a pure Kotsifali has no choice but to go PGI. And pure Kotsifali is exactly the point here.

As a vintage, 2023 was extreme on Crete: downy mildew and heat cut yields by up to 70% and pushed the harvest back – September 6th here, versus August 22nd in 2022 – in a much drier year. The upside: the late-ripening reds, Liatiko, Kotsifali and Mandilari, are considered promising for tannin quality.

That's what I taste. Fruity nose with a hint of plum, good acidity that builds on the palate, a moderate 13.5% alcohol, a touch of farmyard on the finish – and, crucially, respectable tannin. Kotsifali is usually soft and aromatic but short on structure, needing Mandilaria as its skeleton; this one stands on its own. It does stay a bit rustic, though – there's a lightness that promises an elegance which never quite arrives, and the long finish isn't showy. At around 9.90 Euro in Greece, very good value all the same. 88/100.

Full note in our database – link in bio.

Ever had a varietal Kotsifali – yes or no? 👇

#GreekWine #Kotsifali #CretanWine #Lyrarakis #GreekRedWine

The two best wines of the whole tasting were also the oldest

Château Carras 1984 vs 1997 – Slopes of Meliton, Macedonia | 95 vs 94/100 🍷

Our article on Limnio – from Aristotle to the Greek wine revolution – has just gone live, and it's built on a tasting from April 2025. Its two stars deserve their own post. Domaine Porto Carras (@domaine_porto_carras) in Neos Marmaras was one of the most ambitious wine projects of modern Greece: from the mid-1960s, shipowner Giannis Carras planted a vineyard on Mount Meliton. Émile Peynaud shaped the style and helped choose the varieties, and from 1976 to 1999 the oenologist was a certain Vangelis Gerovassiliou (@ktima_gerovassiliou).

In 1982, Slopes of Meliton became the first Greek PDO to admit international varieties: 70% Limnio, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc. Whether the 1984 – made just two years later, still under Gerovassiliou – already followed that formula or was a more Bordeaux-leaning cuvée of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot can't be cleanly established.

The 1984, at 41 years and 12.5%: faintly musty at first, but that blows off quickly. An iodine-laden nose, sloe, sea buckthorn. On the palate a saltiness carried by astonishing fruit – red berries, beetroot, something bloody – and a long finish. The tannin isn't polished, still biting, yet it makes room for the aromatics. Genuinely refreshing; don't serve it too warm.

The 1997, at 28 years and 13%: forest floor and bacon-y notes, a colour you'd never date to the 1990s, plum, blackberry, excellent freshness – and a saltiness that simply doesn't end, unlike anything I've met in a Greek wine before. The modest alcohol in both is no accident; it's part of why they feel this alive. 95/100 for the 1984, 94/100 for the 1997 – yes, the older wine is the better one.

More in our article on this tasting – link in bio.

1984 or 1997 – which cork would you pull first? 👇

#GreekWine #Limnio #SlopesOfMeliton #PortoCarras #AgedWine

Vineyards rediscovered in a storm – three wines from the Holy Mountain

Metochi Chromitsa 2017 vs Agathon 2017 vs Agathon 2006 – Mount Athos, Macedonia | 87+ vs 87 vs 85/100 🍷

Our article on Limnio – from Aristotle to the Greek wine revolution – has just gone live, and these three bottles from the tasting behind it, back in April 2025, deserve their own post. All are Limnio–Cabernet Sauvignon blends from the same place, with different weighting, ageing and age.

That place has a story: in 1969, Evangelos Tsantalis was caught in a storm on Mount Athos and stumbled upon the overgrown vineyards of the Agios Panteleimon monastery. From 1973 he revived them together with the monks, and since 1981 the wines have carried the name Regional Wines of Mount Athos – vineyards at 220–250 metres.

The Metochi Chromitsa 2017 leans on the international partner: 65% Cabernet, 35% Limnio, longer maceration, more barrel. A distinctly barnyardy nose, plenty of leather, still very coarse tannin, black tea on the finish – not a bad wine, but a touch over-made. It should hold a high level for years to come; right now it doesn't thrill.

The Agathon 2017 splits the grapes 50/50 and spends about 8 months in French barriques, 2–3 fewer than the Metochi. Proper cherry in the nose, a little Greek mountain tea, clearly herbal on the palate – no classic Cabernet, Limnio gets its say. The finish, though, is rather unspectacular.

The Agathon 2006, at 19 years, is riper but shows little mushroom – herbs and tea instead, and astonishing acidity for 14.5% alcohol; too much, in fact, for delicate tertiary aromas to come through. No sign it will tip over in the next five years either. No winner here – just the range of one place across eleven years, and the question of how much Limnio survives against Cabernet. 87+, 87 and 85/100.

More in our article on this tasting – link in bio.

The full story of Aristotle's grape is one tap away 👇

#GreekWine #Limnio #MountAthos #CabernetSauvignon #GreekRedWine

Will the young Avaton come good? Air flipped my answer

Ktima Gerovassiliou Avaton 2021, 2020 & 2017 + Domaine Red 2019 – Epanomi, Macedonia | 92+, 92+, 92 and 91+/100 🍷

Our article on Limnio – from Aristotle to the Greek wine revolution – has just gone live, and these bottles from my April 2025 tasting are behind it. Avaton is Evangelos Gerovassiliou's (@ktima_gerovassiliou) statement wine for the grape: Limnio with smaller shares of Mavrotragano and Mavroudi, chosen as the red counterpart to the Malagousia he rescued – same bottle shape, just not single-varietal.

The 2021 is still severe: dark berries, spices and herbs on the nose, but green notes and a bitterness at the back of the palate that really bother me now. The worrying case study is the 2017: at four years, in 2021, I had it at 94 – clear red fruit, sage, nougat, wonderfully fine tannins. Retasted in spring 2025, the nougat has largely dissolved; instead beetroot, kumquat bitterness and a concentration of eucalyptus I've rarely met in a Greek wine – you'd sooner think of an Australian Cabernet.

Days later, with plenty of air, the picture flips. The 2017 briefly regains its nougat, then turns oxidative – down to 90. The 2021, though, loses its sternness and shows juniper, blackberry, real structure. Reason to hope it climbs to 93 or 94 in a few years.

The 2020 (tasted separately in December 2025) sits in between: easy-drinking, lots of nougat, rounder than the 2021, but the tannin still very forward. And the house wine, the Red 2019 – Syrah-dominated, Limnio and Merlot at roughly 20% each – convinces right away: a filigree yet densely layered nose, strawberry, dried rosehip blossom, soft Merlot first, then Syrah takes over – the one bottle here that asks for no patience. 92+ for the 2021 and 2020, 92 for the 2017, and 91+ for the Red.

More in our article on this tasting – link in bio.

Cellar the 2021 or open the Red tonight? 👇

#GreekWine #Limnio #Gerovassiliou #Epanomi #GreekRedWine

The €34 second rosé just matched the €58 flagship

T-Oinos Clos Stegasta Rosé 2023 vs Mavrosé 2025 – Tinos, Cyclades | both 91/100 🍷

T-Oinos is the prestige project of Alexander Avatangelos and Gérard Margeon on Tinos, with Stéphane Derenoncourt consulting since 2016 and Thanos Georgilas – formerly of Opus One and Château Latour – making the wines. Bush vines, 10,000 per hectare, each tied to a stake against the wind, yield just 25 hl/ha on granite at 400–450 metres. Wild goats are a real nuisance; the estate dog Markos holds the title of General Supervisor.

These two rosés come from very different years. 2023 on Tinos was warm and dry, with heat spikes and an earlier harvest – September 15th instead of the 18th. 2025 was a cooler vintage that preserved fruit character and acidity, picked in early September after 2024 had come in as early as August 21st.

The Clos Stegasta Rosé 2023 (35% Assyrtiko, 35% Mavrotragano, 20% Augoustiatis, 10% Malagousia – €58) opens with a rather restrained, herbal nose and green apple. The attack is powerful, then a strong acidity takes command over a brittle mouthfeel; the complexity you'd hope for doesn't follow, and beyond the acidity little remains except a light bitter note. The 2022, which I had at 94+ in 2024 at two years old, showed real ageing potential – I don't see it here.

The Mavrosé 2025 (80% Augoustiatis, 20% Mavrotragano – around €34) is red-fruited and floral, carried by pleasant acidity, with a mouth-coating texture and an impression of sweetness despite being dry. Lemon balm and a touch of green apple on the medium finish, mineral to the point of almost metallic – the only thing pulling it down. It drinks superbly now, is far more supple than its big brother, and stands on exactly the same quality level at half the price. 91/100 for both.

Full notes in our database – link in bio.

Flagship or the €34 sibling – which goes in your glass? 👇

#GreekWine #Tinos #Cyclades #Mavrotragano #GreekRosé

Elegant nose, but the parts never quite mesh for me.

Ktima Biblia Chora Red 2023 – PGI Pangeon, Macedonia | 90/100 🍷

@ktimabibliachora makes one of my favourite Greek estate reds, and this eponymous bottling is the most affordable red of the house, under €20, below prestige cuvées like the Ovilos. Vangelis Gerovassiliou and Vassilis Tsaktsarlis built the estate on the slopes of Pangeon near Kavala, both Bordeaux-trained (Gerovassiliou under Émile Peynaud), the cellar laid out like a Bordeaux château and organic from the start. The name echoes the ancient Biblinos wine that made Pangeon famous in antiquity.

In the glass it's a Bordeaux blend – in 2023, 40% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Agiorgitiko for the Greek touch – twelve months in French oak, the source of the smoky, ashy spice that is the house signature in the best years. A dependable performer across vintages: I had the 2019 at 92 points, and the 2010 still at 91+ with thirteen years on it. 2019 was the great northern-Greek reference year; 2023 sits a notch below.

I opened it in May and it left me a little undecided. The nose is genuinely elegant – cherry, a few floral notes. On the palate it tips: a powerful attack, the 14% pushing the flavour broadly ahead of it, and for all its velvet it leans too one-sidedly on the oak without turning it into that smoky, ashy spice. Only on the finish does the Merlot step out – dark olive, plenty of raspberry, a milk-chocolate depth and a still-dominant tannin. Nose, attack, middle and finish mesh a touch too little for me. A very solid vintage of a wine I hold in high regard – but it doesn't reach the 2019, and the mature 2010 had more cohesion. For me, 90 points.

More in our database of more than 500 Greek wines at griechische-weine.info.

Save this for your next under-€20 Greek red.

#GreekWine #BordeauxBlend #WinesOfGreece #OrganicWine #GreekRedWine

From Santorini's catastrophe vintage, the most opulent GAIA I know

GAIA Wines Assyrtiko Wild Ferment 2023 – Santorini | 93/100 🍷

GAIA is one of the houses where you can read the modernisation of Greek wine: founded in 1994 by Yiannis Paraskevopoulos, a Bordeaux-trained oenologist with a doctorate, and Leon Karatsalos, with a Santorini cellar in a former tomato factory between Kamari and Monolithos. Among the estate's curiosities: in 2009 they sank 450 bottles of Thalassitis in the sea to age underwater — only three could be recovered in 2014. The Wild Ferment has run since 2008 and wears its method in the name: spontaneous fermentation with wild yeasts, no temperature control, no malolactic, then six months across steel, oak, acacia and ceramic spheres. The fruit comes from ungrafted old vines in Pyrgos, 70–80 years old on average, on volcanic pumice at 50–250 metres.

2023 was a catastrophe year on Santorini: hail on April 23rd in the central zone, strong spring winds, unusual late-spring rains and a prolonged July heatwave pushed yields to about 30% of normal, and Assyrtiko was extremely scarce. That an opulent bottle came out of such a year at all — 24,500 bottles of it — is the real achievement.

I've had this wine many, many times, yet I can't remember one with this much citrus on the nose. On the palate, tension without the classic Santorini austerity — an austerity I consider overrated anyway. Before the finish comes the most important part: a wonderful texture. Then a long, long aftertaste with just the right amount of residual fruit. For me this is the most opulent of the GAIA wines I know. Give it 30 minutes in a decanter; depending on the market it costs between roughly €37 and €52. 93/100.

Full note in our database — link in bio.

Santorini austerity: essential character or overhyped? 👇

#GreekWine #Assyrtiko #Santorini #Cyclades #VolcanicWine

The estate's entry-level blend — and the best version of it I've tasted.

Lacules Estate The Chord 2022 – Koroni, Messenia | 93/100 🍷

The Chord is the little brother at Lacules Estate (@lacules_estate) in Koroni, Messenia — the approachable one, €24 in the estate's own shop, against the ~€51 single-varietal Estate wines. The recipe shifts every year; the 2022 is 50% Grenache, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Syrah at 14.5%, aged in barrel.

Good wood on the nose, juniper, dried blueberry. On the palate it holds back for a beat — then comes at you with a full broadside: fresh blueberry, plum, a touch of caramel, a long finish, and 14.5% so well integrated nothing feels heavy. Opulent, with a late savoury note of olive tapenade. It slots to the top of my own Chord vertical: the 2019 at 91 (tasted 2022, at three years) then 92 (2024, at five), the 2021 at 92+ (2024, three years) — and this 2022 above them all. Around €24. 93 points.

Grenache-led Greek reds — sleeper hit, or not for you? 👇

#GreekWine #Grenache #Peloponnese #Messenia #RedBlend

Manousakis Winery Nostos Syrah 2020 – PGI Chania, Crete | 91/100 🍷

Few Greek wines split a room like the Nostos Syrah from @manousakis_winery on Crete. Yiannis Karakasis @yianniskarakasismw once called an early vintage a candidate for Greece's best Syrah; others punish its reductive, smoky style. The sharpest chronicler of this wine, Pavlos Gegas @pavlosgegas, is tough on the older bottlings for overripeness — 85 for the 2017, just 83 for the 2018 — yet lifted this 2020 to 87. Julia Harding @juliahardingmw gave it a solid 16/20 too.

That fits the year: 2020 was a very good, balanced, classic vintage on Crete, ripe healthy fruit from a warm-dry but trouble-free season where higher elevations held the freshness — noticeably steadier than the heat-stressed 2021. So I expected this 100% Syrah (14.5%) to keep pace with the 2021, maybe beat it.

I'd loved the 2017 in a big Syrah lineup back in 2023 (96 points from me, well above the Greek critics), so I was eager. I poured the 2020 next to the 2021 — and it didn't win me over. A touch more fruit on the nose, but on the palate the alcohol shoves forward, burning and dominant on the finish, with charcoal, a flick of curry, and more silicone and rubber than I'd like; the fruit gets buried. The tannin is broad and furry rather than inviting, giving those reductive notes room again and again. Coarser too, more extract, more wood, even a raisiny edge on the close — exactly the overripeness Gegas flags in the older years.

As much as the vintage and the critics argue for it, here the Nostos tips toward everything its skeptics complain about. That Gegas rated it above the 2017 I so admired still baffles me. For me: 92 at most, more likely 91.

More in our database of more than 500 Greek wines at griechische-weine.info.

Which side are you on — Nostos believer or skeptic? Tell me below.

#GreekWine #Syrah #CreteWine #WinesOfGreece #Manousakis

A dry rosé that drinks sweet — and it's built for red-wine lovers.

Lacules Estate Rosé 2025 – Koroni, Messenia | 93/100 🍷

From Lacules Estate (@lacules_estate), a tiny 5-hectare property on Lacules Bay in Koroni, run by Barbara Gruber (WSET Diploma, ex-Blankiet in California) and Jörg Salchenegger. The house calls it a "rosé for red-wine lovers," and they mean it: a deep, glinting, almost-red saignée rosé from old Grenache and Merlot plus young Avgoustiatis, fermented a touch warm and rested seven months in used barriques — wood as support, never a mask.

The nose is loud with red fruit — strawberry, a whisper of mint, even a hint of banana. Then the paradox: it drinks remarkably sweet and succulent for a bone-dry wine (just ~1.6 g/l residual sugar — that's ripe fruit and texture, not sugar), with a light bitter lift and a long finish. One tip: don't serve it ice-cold. The bottle emptied embarrassingly fast. Around €24 from the estate's own shop — a boutique wine made in tiny quantity. 93 points.

Could a "rosé for red-wine drinkers" convert you? 👇

#GreekWine #Rosé #Peloponnese #Messenia #BoutiqueWine

Same grape, same year — and 2021 treated these three very differently 🍷 Penfolds 97, Nostos 95, Lacules 94+/100

2021 was an extreme year in Greece: three rainless heatwaves on Crete, a historic August past 45°C in the Peloponnese — Yiannis Karakasis (@yianniskarakasismw) called it "the oenologist's year," and the ageing potential of many Greek reds has been in question ever since. The Australian benchmark carries no such baggage; critics wave it through at 96–97. So the real question of this flight wasn't Greece vs Australia — it was what a brutal vintage leaves in the glass. Three 2021 Syrahs, all single-varietal, all 14.5%.

The benchmark: @penfolds St Henri Shiraz, Grange's affordable sibling, twelve months in old oak, none of the vanilla polish of new wood. Dark berry, plum, liquorice, that graphite-iron "ironstone" streak — the most powerful and jammy of the three, blueberry through and through, gripping tannin. 97 points, and around €100 the value is outstanding.

The Cretan: @manousakis_winery Nostos Syrah from Vatolakkos, organic and dry-farmed. Easily the most expressive nose of the flight — grilled tomato, balsamic, thyme, a rare twist of grapefruit. And here is the vintage twist: from the weaker year, it makes more of itself than the vintage promised, translating heat into tension instead of jam. The most interesting of the three (its 2017 stood at 96 with me in 2023). 95 points, and by far the cheapest at a good €35.

The Peloponnesian: @lacules_estate Syrah from Koroni, grown 26 paces from the sea — and that breeze is exactly what tempered the brutal August there. René Gabriel (@weingabriel) rates it 19/20. Next to the other two it is pure elegance, but still very closed and young; I had this same vintage at 96 in 2024, at three years. For now 94+ — lay it down five more years.

The verdict: the Penfolds is the most complete, from a year that made things easy. The Greeks had the hard vintage — and both turned it into wine worth arguing about.

More details in the tasting notes in our database and in our article on this tasting ... link in bio!

Power, intrigue or elegance — which glass first? 👇

#GreekWine #Syrah #Penfolds #WineComparison #Shiraz

A Greek Chardonnay with real oak on it — and not a trace of heaviness.

Oinotropai Nomade Chardonnay 2025 – PGI Messinia, Peloponnese | 92+/100 🍷

From @estate_oinotropai, the little boutique estate Vasilis and Maria Kapopoulos run near Kalamata (~30,000 bottles a year). The vines are dry-farmed — never irrigated, never fertilised — on clay soil, with a big day-night swing and cooling sea breezes from the Messenian Gulf; six months in barrel, 13% alcohol. You may know it as the old "Roes Chardonnay" — same wine, new name.

Just released, and you can tell: banana and fresh exotic fruit on the nose, then a lively palate with a fine prickle of CO2 still on it, very good acidity and excellent grip. A kiss of oak, but no weight at all — exactly the kind of Greek Chardonnay I root for. More of this, please.

It sits right in my own vertical of this wine: the 2018 at 93 (2022, four years old) and the 2019 at 92 (2022, at three). Around €14.50–15, drinkable now, but I'd give it another half-year to settle; it'll keep to 2030. 92+ points.

Know someone who thinks Greece can't do Chardonnay? Send them this. 📩

#GreekWine #Chardonnay #Peloponnese #Messinia #WhiteWine

Greece's only red Carignan — and in the hottest, driest vintage on record, it came out lighter, not bigger.

Oinotropai Red Monk Carignan 2024 – PGI Messinia, Peloponnese | 93+/100 🍷

From a tiny 0.4-hectare block of own-rooted, ungrafted Carignan — around forty years old, dry-farmed, no fertiliser — at @estate_oinotropai in Zevgolatio, where Vasilis and Maria Kapopoulos make it. You may know it as the old "Roes Carignan."

2024 was the hottest, driest year the Peloponnese has seen in recent memory — a July heat dome over 40°C. Most reds came out heavy and high in alcohol; this one went the other way, slim and upright at 13.3%, the estate pulling its alcohol back vintage by vintage (15.5% in 2018, 14% in 2021, now 13.3%).

The bouquet alone is worth the glass — a whole basket of fruit lifted by appetising herbs, fascinating acidity, solid tannin, and none of the chocolate you so often get in bigger Greek reds. It slots straight into my own vertical: the 2018 at 94 (tasted 2022, at four years) and the 2021 at 94 (2025). Around €16, drinkable now but built for the cellar — I'd open it from 2029, with a window to 2034. 93+ points.

Save this one for the cellar — 2029 is when I'd pull the cork. 📌

#GreekWine #Carignan #Peloponnese #OldVines #Messinia

🍇 Two old grapes, one terroir — and the soil turns them into completely different wines.

A morning at Oinotropai (@estate_oinotropai), the small family estate Vasilis and Maria Kapopoulos run in Zevgolatio, near Kalamata. I've followed their wines for years — their old-vine Carignan, the only red Carignan in Greece, is so good I once tasted it right next to a 99-point Chilean.

But the best part was standing in the vineyard, talking. Not the tired "organic vs. conventional" debate — something more honest: farming that's genuinely sustainable for this specific place. They let the grass grow between the rows to hold moisture in the soil, and the old Carignan carries itself on its own ungrafted roots — around forty years old, no irrigation, no fertiliser — straight through a Peloponnese summer.

Then the old vines themselves. Carignan and Tempranillo, planted decades ago right next to each other — same slope, same sun, same soil — and reacting completely differently. Standing between the two rows, you can almost read the terroir off the leaves. A living, side-by-side experiment you rarely get to see this clearly.

Two tasting notes from the visit are coming soon. For today, just gratitude. 🙏

Which international grape variety do you think grows best in Greece? 👇

#GreekWine #Carignan #Tempranillo #Peloponnese #WineryVisit

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