Vintage 2012

hot south · wet north · a Xinomavro year to forget

Nationwide 5.5 out of 10 · Confidence of rating: medium

Macedonia

Goumenissa · PDO – Red 5.5 · White 5.5 (Confidence: medium)

Naoussa · PDO – Red 4.0 · White 5.5 (Confidence: medium)

Thrace

Maroneia · PDO – Red 7.0 · White 6.5 (Confidence: low)

Epirus

Metsovo · PGI – Red 6.5 · White 6.5 (Confidence: medium)

Thessaly

Rapsani · PDO – Red 7.0 (Confidence: medium)

Meteora · PGI – Red 5.5 · White 5.5 (Confidence: medium)

Central Greece

Attika · PGI – Red 5.5 · White 5.0 (Confidence: low)

Atalanti and Opountia Lokridas · PGI – Red 5.5 · White 5.5 (Confidence: medium)

Peloponnese

Mantinia · PDO – Red 5.5 · White 8.0 (Confidence: medium)

Nemea · PDO – Red 5.5 · White 5.5 (Confidence: low)

Cyclades

Santorini and Cyclades · PDO/PGI – Red 6.0 · White 6.5 (Confidence: medium)

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

The Attika value applies to the plain around Athens, not to Lokris in Phthiotis; that carries its own.

This year can be told through two numbers that contradict each other. In January the thermometer in Florina dropped to 25 degrees below zero, and in a sinkhole on Mainalon to 35 – record values, but without consequence, because the vines were in winter dormancy. And then came a summer that was remembered as one of the hottest Greece has ever had.

Four points lie between the highest and the lowest value on this page – between the Mantinia plateau, where Moschofilero stands at 8.0, and Naoussa, where Xinomavro stayed at 4.0. Few vintages in our series spread wider. Even within the north alone runs its own rift: Pangeon stands at 7.5, Naoussa at 4.0.

The reason lies in the ripening phase. In the south and on the islands, heat and drought stress prevailed, and whoever had heat-resistant varieties in the vineyard brought in ripe, concentrated wines. In Naoussa, by contrast, above-average rain fell in autumn at low temperatures – for the late-ripening, rot-prone Xinomavro, exactly the constellation it cannot tolerate.

Naoussa – Red 4.0

The low point of this vintage and one of the lowest values in our entire series. The Xinomavro did not reach ripeness: green tannins, little structure, short lifespan. What was made nonetheless turned out soft, fruit-driven and early-drinking rather than firmly built – for an appellation whose reputation rests on tannin and ageability, that is no compliment.

The harshest verdict came from the vineyard itself: Ktima Kir-Yianni released no Naoussa wine from its own estate that year. Those who got the vintage into the bottle anyway worked with strict selection; the wines that resulted were described as soft and aromatic, not as great.

The whites of the area stood one and a half points above.

Goumenissa – Red 5.5

Forty-five kilometres to the northeast, on the southeastern slopes of Paiko, the same flagship variety grew up in a completely different year. There is no talk there of rain and rot, but of drought: during the growing season, 65 percent less rain fell than the average of previous years, with 12 percent more warmth and sunshine. The yield across all varieties was a fifth lower, and ripeness came two weeks earlier than the historical date.

It was not easy – the producers call 2012 a year that exceeded the winemaker's possibilities. In the end stood satisfactorily coloured reds with volume and whites with rich body, and thus one and a half points above Naoussa.

Pangeon 7.5 · Rapsani 7.0

The same north, to the east and south of it, and a completely different year. Pangeon holds the second-highest value of this vintage, after the Mantinia plateau – an area that, with its hillside position, its altitude and the breeze from the Aegean, weathers almost every extreme year better than the surrounding land.

On the eastern slope of Mount Olympus, plenty of rain fell, but without a heatwave and at moderate temperatures, with cool nights above normal days. The grapes reached full ripeness, stayed healthy and came in rich in sugar, colour compounds and tannins; the quantity was 10 to 15 percent below the usual. For the red blend of Xinomavro, Krassato and Stavroto, 2012 was thus a good year – three points above Naoussa, where the same flagship variety stood in the rain. The value applies only to the Rapsani appellation, not to the other wine regions of Thessaly.

Crete – 6.5

In the south, what ruined the north paid off. Heat and drought met Liatiko, Kotsifali and Mandilaria – varieties that can handle them – and produced ripe, concentrated, high-alcohol reds. They carry the Cretan value of this vintage. Clearly below them lie the whites: Vidiano and Vilana from the lowlands risked losing their acidity and becoming flabby, and that could only be prevented by very early harvesting.

Santorini and the Cyclades – Red 6.0 · White 6.5

On Santorini, the year began with a storm. In spring, winds of over 11 Beaufort swept across the island and damaged the vines; after that it stayed dry from May to July, and during the ripening phase five days of extreme heat were added. The island lost up to half its quantity, and the aftereffects extended into the following year.

What remained held up better than expected. Assyrtiko keeps its acidity even when it gets hot, and the wines turned out ripe, powerful and high in alcohol, but not slack. One wine from the island from this vintage was described in the international trade press as charming, which in such a year is more than it sounds.

Nemea – Red 5.5

In the Peloponnese, 2012 was a year decided by altitude. In Nemea, Agiorgitiko turned out uneven; where sites were cooler and picking was late and selective, solid wines emerged – on the plain, not. For the rest of the peninsula outside Nemea and Mantinia, the vintage stands at 6.5.

Mantinia – White 8.0

The highest value on this page: a harvest report on the appellation calls 2012, verbatim, the best harvest of the last 30 years. The summer stayed dry and warm until 10 August, without significant disease pressure, and in the decisive window of around 40 days before the harvest, temperatures remained moderate – highs of 36.6 degrees, none of the heat spikes that marked the south in the same year. The berries stayed small and healthy and developed an exceptionally rich aromatic profile in the process.

On the plateau, that is exactly the ideal constellation for Moschofilero: a white wine that draws its freshness from altitude gets, in a moderate ripening window, the time it would lack in a hotter site. The report says nothing about the red – it describes only the Moschofilero, and the area's 5.5 remains unchanged.

Attika – Red 5.5 · White 5.0

Heat stress and little water. For the reds, selection helped; for the whites, only altitude or a night harvest – without one or the other, the Savatiano lacked freshness. The lowest white value in the table stands here.

Lokris

On the North Euboean Gulf, the year ran seven to ten days earlier than usual: a rather hard winter was followed by a cool spring with rain towards the end, then a very hot summer. At the end of May, hail swept across the landscape and hit the plain at the end of flowering, the higher sites in the middle of it; a considerable part of the harvest was thereby gone. Where the hail did not reach, July – one of the hottest in years – and the long drought further reduced the quantity. Harvesting began in early August with Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, then Malagousia, Robola and Assyrtiko, and in the third week of August Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Xinomavro. What came in was outstandingly healthy.

Maroneia – Red 7.0 · White 6.5

One and a half points above the national value, and together with Rapsani the highest red value on this page. The Pangeon. In the Thracian coastal plain, a mild winter was followed by a rainy spring, cool into early summer; then the summer brought high temperatures, fast ripening and an early harvest at 10 percent less quantity. What was decisive was that the good weather held all summer long: the grapes ripened early and were picked healthy, without diseases. The penalty that pulls down the national value hangs on the unripe Xinomavro of the north – a problem the coastal plain does not have. The whites stand half a point lower, because fast ripening after heat is the acidity risk for them.

Our wines

We have tasted 13 Greek wines from 2012, from seven producers. The median lies at 93 points.

That number describes not the vintage but our cellar. From a vintage this old, only what is worthwhile gets opened, and behind the 13 notes stand only eight different wines – three of them we had in the glass more than once. The vintage itself stands nationwide at 5.5.

At the top stands the Cabernet-Merlot from Domaine Economou of Crete, just ahead of the Etos from Ktima Biblia Chora of Pangeon, a Sémillon with Assyrtiko. We had the Economou in the glass three times, twice at 93; the Trilogia from Christos Kokkalis of PGI Ilia likewise three times, at 94, 93 and 90. The Malvasia from Monemvasia Winery Tsimbidi, a sweet Liastos, stands at 94.

Two wines fit what the values say about the north. The Rapsani Grand Reserve from Tsantali stands at 91 in the database, from one of the areas with the third-highest value of the vintage. And our only Xinomavro bottle of the year, the Single Vineyard Goumenissa from Aidarini, is, at 87, the lowest wine in our 2012 holdings – from the area that stands one and a half points above Naoussa. The 4.0 applies to the neighbouring appellation, not to this wine.

From Naoussa itself we opened nothing from 2012.

Top 3 of our own tastings

Rank 1 – 95+ points Domaine Economou Economou

Rank 2 – 95 points Ktima Biblia Chora Etos Semillon & Assyrtiko

Rank 3 – 94 points Christos Kokkalis Trilogia · Monemvasia Winery Tsimbidi Monemvasia-Malvasia

All tasting notes from 2012

· Aidarini Single Vineyard Goumenissa · 87

· Château Carras · 91

· Christos Kokkalis Trilogia · 94

· Christos Kokkalis Trilogia · 93

· Christos Kokkalis Trilogia · 90

· Domaine Economou Cabernet Sauvignon - Merlot · 95

· Domaine Economou Cabernet Sauvignon - Merlot · 93

· Ktima Biblia Chora Etos Sémillon - Assyrtiko · 95

· Ktima Biblia Chora Plagios red · 93

· Monemvasia Winery Tsimbidi Monemvasia-Malvasia · 94

· Tsantali Rapsani Grand Reserve · 91

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