Agiorgitiko is Greece's most widely planted quality red grape and the star of the Nemea region in the Peloponnese, where as a single-varietal wine it yields the legendary “Blood of Heracles”. Typical are soft tannins, juicy red and dark fruit (plum, cherry, blackberry) and a remarkable range: from light rosé through the fruity, approachable everyday wine to the serious, oak-aged bottling with ageing potential. Here you can find out how Agiorgitiko tastes, which styles exist,

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

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

Three Syrahs, one vintage, two climate worlds: Penfolds St Henri meets Lacules and Manousakis Nostos. Why Australia's cool dream vintage produced the most powerful wine – and Greece's fire vintage the more elegant ones.

Assyrtiko is Greece's most famous white grape – mineral, citrus-fresh, remarkably age-worthy. Santorini vs. the mainland, taste, food pairings, and our top-rated Assyrtikos.

We've already talked about Agiorgitiko on this blog at length – though as a blending partner for international varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Syrah. As a single varietal? Nowhere to be found. And yet we long ago devoted a whole masterclass to the other Greek variety that lays claim to being king among the red grapes – Xinomavro. So Agiorgitiko gets somewhat short shrift here, and that isn't entirely fair. Because according to the official ELSTAT data for 2020

Greek Merlot 2021 in an international line-up: how do Greece's best compare with Pomerol, Tuscany and friends? All scores and verdicts from our blind tasting.

Skouras Megas Oenos 2019, tasted blind against five of the region's best-value Bordeaux. Who wins? There are wines you drink more out of respect for their history than out of sheer enthusiasm. Skouras Megas Oenos has long belonged in that category for me. For years it served as something of an unofficial ambassador for Greek wine – proof that Greece could produce serious, internationally competitive reds, not just retsina. The story is well known and often told: George Skoura

Crete's wine culture stretches back over 4,000 years and is currently experiencing a fascinating renaissance. In this article, I'd like to offer a snapshot of some developments as I see them. I'll do so by pointing to wines I've had in my glass recently – wines that, taken together, paint a picture of where Cretan wine stands right now. This is, mind you, not a systematic survey – more of a mosaic, assembled from the bottles that have lingered longest in my memory over the pa

Our systematic Xinomavro exploration: from Naoussa to Amyndeo and Rapsani, dozens of wines tasted, scored and compared.