Vintage 2006

cool and wet · a shining Peloponnese · a weak north

Nationwide 6.0 out of 10 · Confidence of rating: medium

Macedonia

Naoussa · PDO – Red 5.0 · White 5.5 (Confidence: low)

Central Greece

Attika · PGI – Red 6.0 · White 5.5 (Confidence: medium)

Peloponnese

Nemea · PDO – Red 8.0 (Confidence: medium)

Mantinia · PDO – White 8.0 (Confidence: medium)

Cyclades

Santorini · PDO – Red 6.0 · White 7.0 (Confidence: low)

Peloponnese outside Nemea and Mantinia 6.5 · Pangeon 6.0 · Crete 5.5 (each as an overall value without separation by colour)

Three points separate the best from the weakest value on this page, and they lie between two parts of the country. 2006 was a cooler, wetter year, and it sent the Peloponnese and the north in opposite directions.

Nemea – Red 8.0

The highest value of this vintage, two points above the national figure, and it rests on the absence of everything: no heat extremes, no frost, no devastating rain at harvest. A balanced, moderate season – for Agiorgitiko exactly the condition under which concentrated, age-worthy wines emerge rather than high-alcohol ones. One Nemea from this year won gold at the Decanter World Wine Awards, and one producer in the appellation still lists 2006 among its strongest vintages today.

Mantinia – White 8.0

The same mild course benefited Moschofilero: aromatic, with fresh acidity, favoured by an early harvest. For both appellations, this vintage ranks among the best of the decade.

Naoussa – Red 5.0

The lowest value on the page, and the north did not choose it. The ripening phase saw increased rainfall at relatively low temperatures, and the late-ripening Xinomavro, prone to rot at the best of times, reached only moderate ripeness. The tannins remained unfinished, and on top of that came the risk of the autumn rain diluting the wines.

How serious it was is shown by a decision no producer likes to make: Kir-Yianni skipped its top Naoussa bottling in 2006 because the harvested fruit did not meet its own standards. What did make it into the bottle was, with strict selection, respectable – no more than that.

Attika – Red 6.0 · White 5.5

"Difficult and unusual" best describes the year in Central Greece. Low spring temperatures delayed budbreak and flowering, intense rainfall came throughout the year, then an August heat of up to 40 degrees – on around 50 of 60 days the thermometer stood above 32. And that was followed by heavy autumn rains in the middle of ripening.

The water reserves were full, the pressure from rot and dilution considerable. The extended ripening brought intense colour and good aromatic potential, but only where the harvest hit the rain window exactly and selection was rigorous.

Santorini – White 7.0

On the island the year went as it usually does: hot, dry, windy, without extreme heat and without reports of rain or rot. The Assyrtiko ripened fully and in balance, and from the same vintage comes a Vinsanto made from healthy, sugar-rich fruit.

Our wines

We have tasted five Greek wines from 2006, and they fall almost exactly along the line that divides this vintage.

At the top are two bottles of the same wine: the Trilogia by Christos Kokkalis from the PGI Ilia, twice with 98 points – from the Peloponnese, that is, the part of the country we rank highest in this year. Behind it, the Etos Merlot from Ktima Biblia Chora in the Pangeon with 96.

At the bottom are the other two: the Ramnista from Ktima Kir-Yianni in Naoussa with 86 points and the Agathon from Metochi Chromitsa on Athos with 85.

That looks like confirmation, and yet it is not. Between 98 and 85, across five bottles, there is a wider gap than a vintage can explain – from old vintages one opens almost only the icons and the cheap wines; the middle ground is missing. What the five do reliably show is the distance between a great Peloponnese red and a Naoussa from a year in which the producer cancelled its top bottling.

All tasting notes from 2006

· Christos Kokkalis Trilogia · 98

· Ktima Biblia Chora Etos Merlot · 96

· Ktima Kir-Yianni Ramnista · 86

· Metochi Chromitsa Agathon · 85

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