The red wines of La Tour Melas from Achinos near Stylida in Fthiotida have consistently earned 94 to 95+ points from me for years. That the house does not treat its rosés as an afterthought is evident from the tiering alone: at the bottom the Nautilus, in the middle the Idylle d'Achinos, at the top the Silphium, a cuvée the estate describes as very limited. In October 2026 I tasted the two upper wines of the 2025 vintage together, both as samples from the winery. One could ha

In October 2026, four red wines from Boutari stood before me, two pairs spanning the decades. The Grande Reserve Naoussa 2013 and 1993, both single-varietal Xinomavro, twenty years apart. And the Cava Boutari 2020 and 1976, 44 years apart and, on top of that, from two eras of the blend, of which more later. I bought the two young wines in the shops, the two old ones at auction. I work from new to old, with the comparison appearing under the older wine in each case. Cava Bouta

Order an estate white in northern Greece and you will remarkably often find the same recipe in your glass: Sauvignon Blanc with Assyrtiko. In Drama and on Pangeon this cuvée is almost a category of its own. The logic behind it is sound. The Sauvignon Blanc brings aromatics, grassy or exotic depending on the interpretation, while the Assyrtiko contributes acidity and structure. In price terms the whole category sits roughly between 10 and 15 euros, it is almost always vinified

Two rosés, the same idea: Syrah in the lead, a Greek variety alongside, both from the 2025 vintage, both at 13.5% alcohol, both darker than one commonly expects a rosé to be. One comes from the far south of Greek viticulture, from Crete, the other from the far north, from Drama. Pizza rosé is my name for this sort of thing: robust, uncomplicated rosés that can handle tomato, cheese and herbs without immediately buckling. The Fair Difference Crete and Drama are the two ends of

When you organise plenty of tastings for others and then watch them struggle blind while you yourself have long known what is in the glass, a false sense of security sets in over time. I recently had to learn this again, rather painfully, at first hand. We were invited to friends who know Greek wine very well, and I wanted to bring some wine along for the games evening. Looking at the shelf of bottles still to be tasted, three Xinomavro from Kir-Yianni caught my eye: three wi

Two bottles from the same estate, two price brackets, one score. The Clos Stegasta Rosé 2023, the top rosé from T-Oinos on Tinos, costs around €60 in Greece. The Mavrosé 2025, the house's second rosé, costs around €35 in Greece. In May 2026 both stood side by side in the glass, and in the end the same number stood behind both: 91 points. In direct comparison, the Mavrosé was actually the more supple of the two on the palate. Part of the explanation lies in the vintages. The E

In June 2026, five red wines from Trifilia stood side by side in the glass: the three wines of the Tomos series from the Panagiotopoulos winery, their predecessor, the Cabernet Sauvignon Bio 2010, and, as a neighbourhood comparison, the equally old Anny's Animus Merlot 2014 from the Tsolis winery. The youngest of these wines was twelve years old, the oldest sixteen, and not one of them was tired. That alone is remarkable for a region that hardly anyone has on the map internat

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

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

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