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Three Syrahs from 2021: Dream Vintage, Fire Vintage – and the Twist in the Glass

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.

Griechische Weine

2 days ago11 min read

Assyrtiko: Greece's Great White Wine

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.

Griechische Weine

3 days ago8 min read

An Agiorgitiko Tasting

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

Griechische Weine

Jun 2620 min read

Merlot 2021: How Does Greece Compare Internationally?

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.

Griechische Weine

Apr 1723 min read

Great Wine? Small Price?

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

Griechische Weine

Mar 3015 min read

My Picture of Cretan Wine: A Mosaic of Bottles

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

Griechische Weine

Mar 3020 min read

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

Named for the turtles crossing its rows in summer

Alpha Estate Syrah Single Vineyard “Turtles” 2023 – PGI Florina | 91/100 🍷

Alpha Estate (@alpha_estate), founded in 1997 by Makis Mavridis and Angelos Iatridis, is among Greece’s most technical estates, in Amyndeon (PGI Florina), one of the country’s coolest corners, a plateau at 600–700 m ringed by mountains and tempered by two lakes. You hear it here, from the “Turtles” single vineyard, named for the turtles crossing the rows in summer. This Syrah turns dark, spicy, peppery and herbal rather than broad and jammy, with an acidity nudging it toward the northern Rhône. 100% Syrah, 14.5%, a year in French oak then a year in bottle. At around €17, a single-vineyard wine from a top address at a fair price.

The cellar work is modern, eight months on fine lees before oak. 2023 in Amyndeon was not easy: a mild, snowless winter, a wet, cool spring with mildew, then a hot, dry summer with water stress. The ripening saved it, long and even with cool nights, giving phenolic ripeness with kept freshness. For an estate as precise as Alpha, such a year is an advantage, not a problem.

I had the 2023 in my glass this month. The nose is still fairly reserved, mostly blackberry with some bell pepper. The palate is dense at first, then quickly taken over by alcohol. It wants a little complexity to truly lift it; I understand those who give it “only” 89+ and would start the window in a year or two.

The producer calls it an age-worthy Vin de Garde. I’ve grown cautious about Alpha’s ageing predictions, and need more years of my own experience. It will likely last, but doesn’t need the time and probably won’t unlock much more. Very well made, a very solid Greek Syrah. For me, 91 points.

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

Send this to the friend who only drinks northern-Rhône Syrah.

#GreekWine #Syrah #SingleVineyard #WinesOfGreece #GreekRedWine

Own-rooted Agiorgitiko vines, over a hundred years old.

La Tour Melas Palies Rizes 2020 – Central Greece × Nemea | 94/100 🍷

Palies Rizes means "old roots." The wine comes from a pre-phylloxera, own-rooted Agiorgitiko vineyard more than a hundred years old in Floiountas near Nemea, which Panos Zoumboulis brought back into production in 2013. The winery itself, @latourmelas, is up north in Achinos, Fthiotida, where Kyros Melas started out in 2000 wanting to make a Greek wine at first-growth level. Yields are very low at 15 hl/ha, fermentation is with wild yeasts, and the wine spends 15 months in 400-litre Austrian oak, unfined. The label changes depending on where you buy it, anywhere from Wine of Greece to PGI to PDO Nemea, but what matters is that old vineyard. At about 235 € for this vintage and mostly sold out, it's a collector's bottle.

I had high expectations going in, and the wine lived up to them. Expressive nose, plenty of dark fruit with juniper berry in there too. The tannins are very fine and already drinkable, the minerality is good, and the finish runs very long. @juliahardingmw puts it among the producer's top three; for me it's a very, very good wine — 94 points.

If you're into Greek wine it's worth trying once, assuming you can track down a bottle.

The full note, with more on the vineyard and how it's made, is in our database of more than 500 Greek wines at griechische-weine.info.

Save this for the day you track down a bottle.

#GreekWine #Agiorgitiko #GreekFineWine #OwnRootedVines #FrancsDePied

I scored this 95+ once — years later, 92.

Alpha Estate S.M.X. 2017 – PGI Florina, Amyndeon | 92/100 🍷

S.M.X. is Alpha Estate’s (@alpha_estate) far more ambitious big brother to the Axia, from the same cool heights but built quite differently. 60% Syrah, 20% Merlot, 20% Xinomavro, at a yield of about 25 hl/ha, half the Axia’s. At least eighteen months in new French oak, bottled unfiltered. This is plainly a vin de garde with grand-vin ambition, with even Bordeaux consultant Eric Boissenot listed as blending consultant. Syrah gives colour, dark fruit and pepper, Merlot pads, Xinomavro brings acidity, grip and ageing potential. At around €23, still fair for the effort.

2017 here too was dry and early, with hail in spots but strong in quality, and Syrah, Merlot and Xinomavro all ripened beautifully in Amyndeon. Analytically the year is intriguing: despite a good 14%, acidity sits high at 6.4 g/l with low pH, a cool, taut axis rather than sheer power.

Expectations ran high. Julia Harding MW (@juliahardingmw) gave it 18++ on JancisRobinson.com, praising power and finesse and seeing big potential she thought would show fast. On griechische-weine.info I had it at 95+ in 2021, still 92+ in late 2024. Those two pluses of Harding’s now look too optimistic to me.

Now, a good eighteen months on, the nose shows clearly less blackberry than a few years back, more dark cherry and plum, just a trace of Christmas spice. On the palate an acidity carries it very steadily, with caramel. Relatively unspectacular, but very balanced. Drink it now or to about 2030. For me, 92 points, this time without the plus I gave it in late 2024. It hasn’t quite met the big hopes, but that is exactly why these re-tastings over the years matter.

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

Save this as a reminder to re-taste the bottles you're cellaring.

#GreekWine #Syrah #Xinomavro #WinesOfGreece #GreekRedWine

A Malagouzia that kept me thinking of white Bordeaux

Erithrou Rodou Malagouzia Single Vineyard 2024 · Drama | 92/100 🍷

@ktima_erithrou_rodou built its name on Malagouzia — which is what makes this 2024 the interesting one, because it breaks with the estate's own floral house style. 100% Malagouzia from the single vineyard Ammoudies at Kokkinogeia, 15-year-old vines, steel only — no oak, no amphora. Just 2,600 bottles, around 19–21 EUR, made by Giannis Triantafyllidis with oenologist Dr. Katerina Karampatea, @katerina_oenopolis, who trained in Burgundy.

I know the earlier vintages well: the 2020 I scored a bold 92 in 2021 at a year old — elderflower, lychee, lovely acidity — and the 2021 I lifted to 94 in 2022, again at a year, with heavier rose and a long floral finish, the star of my Malagouzia line-up that season. The 2024 goes the other way. Far less flower, more like dried petals on the nose, but a gripping acidity and a density that's unusual for the grape — I kept thinking of a white Bordeaux from a very warm year: dense, elegant, taut. The finish is medium rather than long, though a second, faintly floral echo follows behind it.

2024 was Greece's hottest, driest year on record, and the whites had the roughest ride — you can taste the effort here. A serious, refined Malagouzia, a food wine rather than an easy pour, one that earns respect even if it doesn't quite thrill. The Thessaloniki Wine & Spirits Trophy gave it just Bronze (86), while the estate's barrel-fermented Assyrtiko 2024, which I tasted alongside, took Gold — a gap that fits my own reading.

Worth tasting once if you love Malagouzia, or Greek wine in general. 92 points.

Save this for when you want a Malagouzia with grip, not just flowers.

#GreekWine #WinesOfGreece #Malagouzia #DramaWine #SingleVineyard

Cavino Nemea 1978 – PDO Nemea, Peloponnese | 90/100 🍷

We opened this for a small tasting of wines turning 45, next to several other 1978s, including a Château Mouton Rothschild and a Château Margaux from the same year. @cavinowinery was founded in 1958, twenty years before this bottle, and today it's mainly known for inexpensive Greek wines you'll find on supermarket and discounter shelves. So expectations were low.

The wine turned out to be a revelation. Blueberry on the nose, and a palate that's remarkably supple for its age, with a long, ringing finish marked by sea buckthorn and a strange, almost bloody note. It's 100% Agiorgitiko, as PDO Nemea requires. On the night it beat both Bordeaux. The Mouton was sadly undrinkable, most likely a bad bottle rather than the wine itself, and the Margaux had a gorgeous peppery, cassis nose but stayed pretty rough on the palate.

At this age there are no great wines, only great bottles. But the impression this Nemea left was hard to argue with. An exciting find, and a clear 90 points.

Longer note, with more on the tasting and the producer, in our database of more than 500 Greek wines at griechische-weine.info.

A 1978 Greek red that outshone first-growth Bordeaux — would you have bet on it?

#GreekWine #Agiorgitiko #Nemea #WinesOfGreece #AgedGreekWine

Kourtakis Nemea 1990 – PDO Nemea, Peloponnese | 89/100 🍷

This is the plain Kourtaki Nemea, the basic bottling, not the slightly more ambitious oak-touched Kouros. It's the wine that helped make Kourtakis, by Wines of Greece's account, the leading private Greek producer of Agiorgitiko reds, at something like 30 million bottles a year. So we're deep in the mass market of early modern Greek wine here, and the 11.5% alcohol, half a point below the Kouros, underlines it. If you want aged Greek wine, especially in Germany, you can't really get around houses like this. It was cheap then and it's cheap now.

This one is from my birth year, so I tasted it with some curiosity. The colour again holds up well. The nose is appealing, less caramel than the Boutari, more coffee and espresso. On the palate, for once, none of that overaged Agiorgitiko sharpness I keep complaining about. It's a bit watery and the low alcohol shows, but there's a lot of extract and, remarkably, no off notes at all. Stable, lively acidity, genuinely moreish. It misses a little complexity on the finish, where the Boutari edges ahead, but plenty of people would drink this one more happily. I give it 89 points, and you can soberly predict it'll still drink well in five years. Pretty wild for a 35-year-old mass-market bottle.

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

A 35-year-old supermarket bottle still drinking well — what's the oldest that's surprised you?

#GreekWine #Agiorgitiko #PDONemea #WinesOfGreece #AgedRed

Erithrou Rodou Assyrtiko French Oak 2024 · Drama | 93/100 🍷

A barrel-fermented Assyrtiko from Drama, made by Giannis Triantafyllidis with Burgundy-trained oenologist Dr. Katerina Karampatea, @katerina_oenopolis, at @ktima_erithrou_rodou — a tiny estate whose name means "Domaine of the Red Rose". 100% Assyrtiko from a cool 200 m site in the Aggitis Valley, 2–5°C below the rest of PGI Drama; free-run must only, fermented in French barriques, eight months on the fine lees. Just 2,500 bottles, around 29 EUR.

On the nose it's recognisably Assyrtiko — minerality, a touch of apricot. The palate has grip and real elegance at once, opening into a fruity, exotic, papaya finish that the very serious Santorini Assyrtikos rarely give you. I prefer this to sheer austerity. One tip: don't serve it too cold, or the vanilla of the oak comes through too strongly.

2024 was the hottest, driest year on record in Greece, and the Macedonian whites were the year's hardest exercise — so this much freshness and grip is worth noting. This is my second vintage of the wine: I rated the 2021 debut 94 back in 2022 at a year old, all lime and green apple, chalky and Riesling-like; the 2024 sits just below, riper and more exotic — papaya instead of that lean line, the heat year in the glass.

The competitions read it much the same way: Gold (92) at the Thessaloniki Wine & Spirits Trophy — where the estate's Malagouzia 2024, which I tasted alongside, got only Bronze — plus Gold at the Mondial des Vins Blancs in Strasbourg. For me, better than most Santorini Assyrtiko, and at that price all the more so: 93 points.

#GreekWine #WinesOfGreece #Assyrtiko #DramaWine #DrinkGreek

Kourtakis Kouros Nemea 1992 – PDO Nemea, Peloponnese | 78/100 🍷

Kourtakis is another of the three big houses that drove Greek wine exports in this era, alongside Boutari and Tsantali. Founded in 1895, it later traded as Greek Wine Cellars. Kouros Nemea was a widely sold, approachable line; the Washington Post described the 1989 back in 1994 as ripe, soft and medium-bodied, then 8 dollars a bottle. Today the Kouros runs roughly 5–8 € in Greece.

I tasted it. The colour still holds up well. But on the nose that sharpness I find so typical of overaged Agiorgitiko hits straight away. The whole thing feels brandied, on the palate too, with light metallic notes and bitterness, and a long, distracting finish. There is still some darker fruit in there, mostly plum. 78 points.

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

Have you had a Greek red from the early '90s recently — still standing, or long gone?

#GreekWine #Agiorgitiko #Nemea #WinesOfGreece #VintageWine

Tsantali Nemea Reserve Epilegmenos 1993 – PDO Nemea, Peloponnese | 84/100 🍷

Tsantali was one of the defining names of modern Greek wine, and one of the big exporters that put it on the map in the 1980s and 90s. The house was declared bankrupt in January 2026, so opening a bottle more than thirty years old carries some sadness. The Epilegmenos (reserve) label meant something real under the old rules, at least three years total ageing with time in wood and bottle, a regulatory promise rather than marketing. Old Tsantali wines have surprised us before, and Pavlos Gegas (@pavlosgegas) gave the house's Agiorgitiko Nemea 2000 a remarkable 94 points in 2022. A collector bottle now runs about 39 €.

So expectations were genuinely high. I tasted it. It's denser than the Boutari, with much more extract. The nose held up well, stewed fruit and stewed plums. On the palate it lacks the usual sharpness of overaged Agiorgitiko, spread out more evenly, which is pleasant. But a faint bitterness creeps in and there's a little stickiness right at the end. Lots of small flaws, each costing a point. In places it could be a 90, but it shows those flaws every time, so 84 points. A wine you wish more for, and we may simply have missed its window, probably somewhere around 2015.

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

Any old Tsantali still in your cellar? After the bankruptcy they're pieces of history.

#GreekWine #Agiorgitiko #NemeaWine #WineHistory #GreekWineHistory

Boutari Nemea 1998 – PDO Nemea, Peloponnese | 90/100 🍷

@boutariwines is one of Greece's most storied houses, founded in Naoussa in 1879 and exporting since the 1930s. It expanded into Nemea in the 1980s, and the Agiorgitiko became part of the core range, a standard bottling rather than a reserve, once about 10 € in Ireland. Hopes for a standard bottle more than 25 years old weren't high. Then again, Pavlos Gegas (@pavlosgegas) had given the only slightly younger 2003 a full 91 points, even from a less-than-perfect bottle, describing real tertiary richness, carob, chestnut, espresso, aged chocolate, with surprising energy from high acidity and fully resolved tannins.

I tasted it. The nose surprised me, carrying its caramel-brown colour over into the glass as a lot of toffee. On the palate the modest 11.5% actually helps, because there's good acidity running right through, never flagging, smoothing over small flaws even on the finish. Surprising and welcome, still 90 points, but no reason to age a wine like this any further.

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

Would you trust a 25-year-old standard-label Nemea? This one surprised me.

#GreekWine #Agiorgitiko #PDONemea #WinesOfGreece #AgedGreekWine

Palivou Estate Anemos Agiorgitiko 2013 – PGI Peloponnese | 82/100 🍷

@ktima_palivou is a family estate in Ancient Nemea, founded in 1995, farming more than 50 hectares organically and with biodynamic principles. The Anemos fruit comes from the Giugiza slopes at 420–460 metres on deep clay. It's the entry line, fruit-driven, with only six or seven days on the skins and built for early drinking. Above it sit the PDO Nemea and the Ammos Terra Leone. As an entry wine it cost under 10 €, and you can't expect too much of one more than a decade on.

I tasted it. There's decent extract, which suits it well at only 12.5% without tipping into over-extraction. But too much of the fruit has already receded and too many oxidative notes have crept in. Aged Agiorgitiko often turns brittle, like dry wood, and that's what's happening here. 82 points. For context, the estate's Nemea Reserve is a different animal; we gave the 2018 91 points.

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

Have you had a 2013 Greek red lately — still alive, or over the hill?

#GreekWine #Agiorgitiko #NemeaWine #WinesOfGreece #AgedWine

Barafakas Winery Apocalypsis Agiorgitiko 2015 – PDO Nemea, Peloponnese | 89/100 🍷

This is the premium bottling from @barafakas_winery, the same Nemea family behind the lighter Idea. For the Apocalypsis they picked their best plots on the slopes of Agios Ilias at 380–400 metres after about ten years of watching and experimenting. The wine ferments in steel, then spends twelve to fifteen months in French oak and at least two years in bottle before release. WineTaster gave the 2015 91 points in 2022, calling it more fine and herbal than just ripe and oaky. On price it sits above the everyday Idea, in the mid-teens in euros.

I tasted it. The nose is fairly reserved. On the palate there's interesting minerality that later shows up on the nose as a faint chlorine note. The wine has layers. It's explosive on the attack, then moves into darker, olive, woody, earthy territory, and then drains away quite quickly into that Greek soil. So 89 points for now. I don't think it's in a closed phase it'll climb out of. If you have it, drink it now.

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

Cellar it or drink it now? I'd open it — curious what you'd do.

#GreekWine #Agiorgitiko #Nemea #WinesOfGreece #CellarWine

Ktima Biblia Chora Areti 2016 – PGI Pangeon, Macedonia | 91/100 🍷

This is normally one of my favourite Agiorgitikos from outside Nemea. @ktimabibliachora was founded by Vassilis Tsaktsarlis and Vangelis Gerovassiliou, both Bordeaux-trained, Gerovassiliou also the key figure behind the revival of Malagousia. The vineyards sit at about 380 metres in the Pangeon hills near Kavala, on gravelly limestone-clay soils cooled by Aegean breezes. The estate says Areti was the first Agiorgitiko ever made outside its Nemea homeland, a deliberate pioneer project. Cold maceration at 6 °C, then 12 months in French oak, about 10,000 bottles, around 19.80 €.

I'd loved earlier vintages here. We gave both the 2013 and the 2016 a thrilled 94 points back in 2021, so I was keen to see how the 2016 showed eight years on. It disappointed me a little. Lots of juniper on the nose and the palate, with slightly green notes that nag, and a sense of tasting the common denominator of all Biblia Chora's oak. The smoky finish doesn't do much. It picks up on the second wave, and it should hold this level for another five years. Still a very good wine, no question, just not its best self. 91 points.

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

#GreekWine #Agiorgitiko #PangeonWine #OrganicWine #GreekReds

Astir X Winery Faré Rebels Agiorgitiko 2017 – PGI Peloponnese | 84/100 🍷

@astirxwinery is on the edge of Kalamata in Messinia. The family history goes back to 1930, and today they work with 88 local growers across some 80 hectares. The name Faré points to ancient Farai, the old name of Kalamata, and the Greek revolution that started there in 1821. The wine sees no oak and is built for fruit and early drinking. The producer calls it full-bodied, which at 12.5% sounds like a contradiction, and it is one. It's an entry-level price, roughly 10–14 €.

I tasted it. The nose is still fairly pleasant, with some green, vegetal notes. The attack grabs you and the acidity is good, but it fades very fast. Not unpleasant on the finish, just too short. 84 points.

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

#GreekWine #Agiorgitiko #GreekReds #EntryLevelWine #DrinkNow

Ktima Pavlidis Emphasis Agiorgitiko 2018 – PGI Drama, Macedonia | 91+/100 🍷

A long way from the grape's home. @ktimapavlidis is in Drama, in landlocked northern Greece, founded in 1998 by Christoforos Pavlidis and working in a clearly terroir-driven way, with its own vineyards, manual night harvest and plot-by-plot vinification. The single-vineyard Perichora site sits at about 400 metres on terra rossa with limestone and marl. The 2018 spent 14 months in French oak and another 12 in bottle. Falstaff gave it 92 points, and at Mundus Vini it took Gold plus Best of Show Greece Red. It's around 17–20 €.

I tasted it. At 15% this is no light summer wine; in Drama we're in serious red territory, the way they make Syrah and Tempranillo there too. Despite the alcohol it had good freshness on the palate. My bottle's nose was no longer intact, so I'll skip the bouquet, though Falstaff lists herbs, nougat, ripe plum and tobacco. On the palate and the outside references I land at 91+.

It's a real rehabilitation, since we only gave the 2016 a cautious 87+. Good proof of how well Agiorgitiko can work outside Nemea.

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

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Ktima Driopi Reserve Agiorgitiko 2018 – PDO Nemea Reserve, Peloponnese | 90/100 🍷

This is Yiannis Tselepos's Nemea project. He's best known for Mantineia, but with the small Ktima Driopi he also makes Nemea, and since he studied oenology in Dijon under René Engel, the Burgundian streak is no accident. The vineyard sits in Koutsi at 380 metres, clay-limestone, steep slopes, 50-year-old vines at just 7 tonnes per hectare. After 25 days of extraction with cold maceration the wine spends 12 months in French barriques, 70% new, then 6 months in bottle. The 2013 got 93 points from Wine Advocate. In Greece it's around 17–20 €, and @ktima_tselepos is where you'll find it.

I tasted it. You can see the concentration in the darker colour. The nose mixes blackberry and olive tapenade, almost like a Bordeaux blend from a very warm year. The palate, though, isn't quite complex enough to match. It's a wine that does better in some vintages than others, and here it stays a little astringent. The tannin is there but wouldn't stand up to a big steak. Just about 90 points.

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

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Ktima Kokotos "Three Hills" Agiorgitiko 2020 – Peloponnese | 92/100 🍷

A genuinely good Agiorgitiko for ten euros. @kokotosestate is in Stamata, Attica, northeast of Athens, with certified-organic vineyards at around 450 metres on limestone and schist. For the Three Hills, though, the fruit comes from partner growers in Nemea, so it's more Kokotos's own take on Nemea fruit than a textbook PDO wine, and it's bottled as PGI Peloponnese. The blend has shifted over the years; older vintages had 10% Cabernet, and the move to pure Agiorgitiko seems to have happened around 2019. Grapes are hand-picked and chilled at night, and according to Julia Harding MW the 2020 spent five months in second-fill oak, all aimed at drinking young.

I opened it expecting simple value and got more than that. Very intense nose, red fruit but also plum. The palate is fresh and builds slowly, with a good finish and a smoky note that's surprising given only a few months in used wood. Elegant and refreshing at once, and only 12.5%. This is the kind of Agiorgitiko I'd like to drink more often. Serve it lightly chilled.

There's a much fuller note in our database of more than 500 Greek wines at griechische-weine.info.

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Nikolaou Estate Agiorgitiko Nemea 2020 – PDO Nemea, Peloponnese | 87+/100 🍷

@nikolaouestate is a family winery in Nemea going back to the 1930s; founder Giannis Nikolaou studied in Bordeaux, and the estate has farmed organically since 1999. This wine is from a single plot in Koutsi at around 350 metres, limestone soil, southwest facing, vines about 15 years old. Hand-picked in late September, fermented with indigenous yeasts in steel, then up to 18 months in 300- to 600-litre French oak and further time in bottle. With only about 4,000 bottles it's clearly the estate's ambitious cuvée, and it's under 10 €.

I tasted it in June. A solid, mineral organic Nemea, wild-fermented and hand-picked, well balanced with very good concentration. The finish is a bit short, but there's clearly more to come. For now I'd put it at 87+, with the plus meaning I expect it to climb.

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

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Acra Winery Nemea Agiorgitiko 2020 – PDO Nemea, Peloponnese | 90/100 🍷

This comes from the debut phase of a very young Nemea project. @acrawinery was founded in 2021 by Spiros Papandreou, a chemist and oenologist, and Dimitris Papandreou, a mechanical engineer, with the vineyards taken over already in 2020. Around 4 hectares on clay-limestone soils between 300 and 550 metres. They use lyra training, a split open canopy that gives good light and airflow but is rarely used because of the work it takes. The 2020 spent 10–11 months in French oak, mostly used, some new, then about 6 months in bottle. Falstaff gave it 90 points. In Greece it ran about 13.60 €.

I tasted it in June. Lots of nougat, on the nose and into the finish, and very polished tannin. Good minerality, with a light sea-buckthorn note coming up under the red and black berries. A very round, complete wine for such a new producer. 90 points.

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

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Barafakas Winery Idea Nemea 2021 – PDO Nemea, Peloponnese | 86/100 🍷

@barafakas_winery is a family operation in Nemea with roots in the 1920s; the modern winery was set up in 2002 by Christos Barafakas. The vineyards run from 200 up to 815 metres across the broken-up Nemea zone. The Idea is made entirely in stainless steel, with five days of pre-fermentation maceration, fermentation at 24–26 °C and four months in tank, so no oak at all. It costs about 7–8 € in Greece, and one UK merchant pitches it at people who like young Rioja.

I tasted it young. Fair amount of spice on the nose. The tannin is still fairly stern, then a short burst of fruit, but the finish is brief and there's a slightly metallic aftertaste. 86 points.

A decent, straightforward Nemea. The winery's serious bottle is the Apocalypsis, which is a different story.

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

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Dionysos Winery Agiorgitiko 2021 – PGI Peloponnese | 86/100 🍷

@dionysos_wines is one of Greece's bigger producers, founded in Athens in 1936 and making more than 11 million litres a year. This Agiorgitiko is sourced from the Corinthos district on the Peloponnese and bottled as PGI, not to be confused with the house's separate PDO Nemea, which gets barrel ageing. In Greece it sells for around 4 €, so firmly entry level.

I've tasted a few wines from this producer, and this is the best of them so far. Red-berry nose. Still fresh on the palate, with grippy tannin and a good balance between acidity and alcohol. The finish lets it down a little, and there are some slightly unclean notes on the second pass, a touch musty. 86 points.

For the money it does its job, and it's a reasonable everyday way into the grape.

There's a fuller note in our database of more than 500 Greek wines at griechische-weine.info.

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New article discussing Agiorgitiko wines from @cavinowinery @megaspileo_estate @dionysos_wines @barafakas_winery @acrawinery @nikolaouestate @kokotosestate @latourmelas @ktima_tselepos @ktimapavlidis @astirxwinery @ktimabibliachora @ktima_palivou @domainerepanis @boutariwines @tsantali @philoswines @wineandnature

Philos Wines Apeiro "∞" 2015 – Nemea, Peloponnese | 95+/100 🍷

This was my first taste of the Apeiro, and it turned out to be one of the best Agiorgitiko wines I've ever had.

@philoswines is based in Dafni, one of the seventeen villages inside the Nemea PDO, but the Apeiro looks like it deliberately sits outside the appellation. It's a single-vineyard, old-vine Agiorgitiko, bottled unfiltered, 100% Agiorgitiko at 14.5%. In Germany, you can get the wine from @wineandnature for 55.55 €. Not cheap and no bargain hunt, but fair for what it is.

I went in with no real expectations, and the nose floored me, probably the most complex bouquet I've had from a Greek red all year, with black-cherry liqueur, violets, graphite and a bit of sea breeze. On the palate the parts aren't fully knitted together yet and the middle is slightly loose, but the salty-edged fruit and a finish that lasts minutes push it to 95+. You wouldn't guess it's ten years old. Drink it across a range of temperatures; warmer it shows more cherry and plum, the oak folds in, and the age starts to show.

2015 was a great Agiorgitiko vintage, which @ktimabibliachora's Areti from the same year confirmed again not long ago.

There's a much longer note on this wine in our database of more than 500 Greek wines at griechische-weine.info.

#GreekWine #Agiorgitiko #GreekRedWine #OldVines #NemeaWine

Lafazanis Geometria Agiorgitiko 2024 – PGI Peloponnese | 88/100 🍷

Geometria is the fresh, oak-free Agiorgitiko of Lafazanis (@lafazanis_winery) from ancient Kleones at the gateway to Nemea, labelled PGI Peloponnese again in 2024 because some fruit comes from the Korinthia hills. The style is unchanged: cold maceration, six days on skins, a cool ferment, no oak. At around €10, still about fruit, line and flow, not wood.

I’ve had two vintages myself: the 2020 (89), loved for its flinty style, and the 2023 (88), all idea but flat and short. Outside scores zigzag too. The 2021 was a 50 Great Greek Wines darling, the 2023 took only Decanter Bronze (88), the 2024 now Decanter Gold at 95, its highest yet.

2024 in Nemea was hot, dry, very early and short on volume, the opposite of wet, fungal 2023. The drought kept disease low, so the little fruit picked came in healthy and concentrated. Decanter’s note mirrors that, citing a chalky-mineral core, cocoa tannin and pomegranate acidity, the structural terms 2023 lacked.

In my glass, Decanter’s pomegranate shows from the nose. The palate is far denser than the 2020 or 2023, its coarse, mealy tannin making itself felt. A more classical Agiorgitiko, one that could come from Nemea itself. What it lacks is the coolness, the flint that made the earlier vintages so appealing.

It fixes some 2023 faults; the finish, for one, is longer. Even so, it climbs no higher for me. The coarse tannin and above all the missing coolness hold it back, so the difficult 2023 and the feted 2024 end up level in my book, for opposite reasons: one short on palate, the other on coolness. The seven-point gap Decanter draws I can’t justify. For me, 88 points.

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

#GreekWine #Agiorgitiko #GreekWines #Nemea #GreekRedWine

Lafazanis Geometria Agiorgitiko 2023 – PGI Peloponnese | 88/100 🍷

Geometria is the fresh, oak-free Agiorgitiko of Lafazanis (@lafazanis_winery), a three-generation family winery at ancient Kleones, right at the gateway to Nemea. The label still reads PGI Peloponnese, not PDO Nemea, since some fruit comes from the Korinthia hills to the north. The name is the idea, a deliberately clean-drawn Agiorgitiko rather than a rustic Nemea: 24-hour cold maceration, six days on skins, a cool ferment, no oak. At around €10, a wine about fruit and flow, not wood or muscle.

I like this style, and the line can clearly do more. The 2021 was a 50 Great Greek Wines favourite, the 2024 took Decanter Gold at 95. No everyday wine.

2023, though, was a crisis year in Nemea: rain at flowering, downy mildew, heat stress, then September’s storms Daniel and Elias with deluge and botrytis. Much was picked early, phenolic ripeness lagged, yields collapsed. For a wine built on freshness, not substance, an ungrateful year, and you can tell.

Curious whether any of that survives, I tasted it. The nose is still very appealing, a little blackberry, and when cool a floral bouquet that alone would lift it past 90, almost a cool-floral Brouilly. But the palate is too flat, with a hint of the reductive flint I know from the line, and the finish too short, only a second wave bringing pepper.

Tellingly, even the kinder scores reward exactly that, nose and charm, not depth; Decanter stopped at Bronze (88), close to mine. You smell a lovely idea whose palate pays for the hard year. The potential is real, and I’d love a fully successful vintage. These 88 points are for the idea, less for what’s in the glass.

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

#GreekWine #Agiorgitiko #WinesOfGreece #Nemea #GreekRedWine

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