Vintage 2011

cool with no heatwaves · acidity everywhere · Xinomavro at its peak

Nationwide 7.5 out of 10 · Confidence of rating: medium

Macedonia

Naoussa · PDO – Red 9.0 · White 8.0 (Confidence: medium)

Thrace

Maroneia · PDO – Red 7.5 · White 7.5 (Confidence: low)

Epirus

Metsovo · PGI – Red 7.5 · White 7.5 (Confidence: medium)

Thessaly

Rapsani · PDO – Red 7.5 (Confidence: medium)

Central Greece

Attika · PGI – Red 7.5 · White 8.0 (Confidence: medium)

Atalanti and Opountia Lokridas · PGI – Red 7.5 · White 7.5 (Confidence: low)

Peloponnese

Nemea · PDO – Red 7.0 (Confidence: low)

Mantinia · PDO – White 7.5 (Confidence: low)

Cyclades

Santorini · PDO – Red 6.5 · White 8.0 (Confidence: low)

Epanomi 8.0 · Pangeon 7.5 · Peloponnese outside Nemea and Mantinia 7.5 · Crete 6.5 (each as an overall score without separation by colour)

A rainy May, followed by a long dry stretch without temperature extremes – that is the whole vintage in one sentence. Because the heatwaves stayed away, grapes across the country kept their acidity, and because it stayed dry after May, nobody got into trouble either.

Naoussa – Red 9.0

The highest score on this page. We rarely award nines – seven times across 26 vintages, and three of those for Naoussa, which no other region matches. After three average years in a row, Xinomavro returned here to its peak.

The conditions were exactly what this variety needs: relatively dry and cool, with sufficient rainfall but no excess moisture. The grapes stayed healthy, and because they stayed healthy, the harvest could be deliberately delayed until the tannins were fully ripe. What emerged has good phenolic ripeness at comparatively low alcohol, high fresh acidity, fine ripe tannin – and an ageing potential that in the north is compared to the reference vintages 1994 and 2001.

The experts are not entirely unanimous: a few voices consider 2011 a cool year with reds that were in part unwieldy and lacking in elegance. That comes down to the producer and the site – those who waited for full ripeness came out ahead.

The white side – Attika and Santorini at 8.0 each

The moderate summer and the wide gap between day and night temperatures are the best a year can offer aromatic white varieties. On Santorini there was also plenty of winter rain, useful spring winds and a mild summer; harvest came early in August, without rain and without rot. The Assyrtiko turned out fresh and precise.

In Attika, Savatiano was unusually strong; in Zitsa, Debina; on Crete, Vidiano and Vilana; in Mantinia, Moschofilero. It is a vintage in which the white varieties worked practically everywhere.

Our wines

We have tasted three Greek wines from 2011; the median is 89 points.

At the top is the Merlot Alargino from Domaine Hatzimichalis of Atalanti with 94, followed by the Floga Gis from Petralona Winery in Chalkidiki with 89 and an Agiorgitiko from Nicolas Repanis with 83.

From Naoussa, the region that leads this vintage with 9.0, we have no bottle on file.

All tasting notes from 2011

· Domaine Hatzimichalis Merlot Alargino · 94

· Nicolas Repanis Agiorgitiko · 83

· Petralona Winery Floga Gis · 89

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