Vintage 2014

wet · uneven · a year for producers and sites

Nationwide 5.5 out of 10 · Confidence of rating: low

Macedonia

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

Amyndeon · PDO – Red 5.0 (Confidence: medium)

Goumenissa · PDO – Red 4.5 · White 5.5 (Confidence: medium)

Thrace

Maroneia · PDO – Red 5.0 · White 6.5 (Confidence: medium)

Thessaly

Rapsani · PDO – Red 5.5 (Confidence: medium)

Karditsa · PGI – Red 5.5 · White 5.5 (Confidence: low)

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

Central Greece

Atalanti and Opountia Lokridas · PGI – Red 6.0 · White 6.0 (Confidence: medium)

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

Peloponnese

Nemea · PDO – Red 4.5 (Confidence: medium)

Mantinia · PDO – White 5.5 (Confidence: medium)

Cyclades

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

Crete 6.5 · Pangeon 7.0 · Drama 6.0 · Epanomi 5.5 · Peloponnese outside Nemea and Mantinia 5.5 (each as an overall value without separation by colour)

2014 turned the usual order upside down. Normally, the red wine regions of the mainland carry a Greek vintage, and the islands add the whites. This year, Santorini leads in red, while Nemea and Goumenissa carry the lowest values on this page at 4.5.

The reason is water. After a warm, strong 2013 came a cooler, changeable and considerably wetter year, without nationwide heat, but with widespread rot pressure.

The north – Naoussa 5.0 · Amyndeon 5.0 · Goumenissa 4.5

This is where it hit hardest. The season began with good water reserves and remained stable until the end of May, then unexpected rain and hail storms arrived in early June, and on 22 July a hailstorm over Naoussa caused damage of up to 90 percent. After that, the summer turned dry and temperate, but the picture remained patchy: the damage was not uniform across the area, but varied from parcel to parcel.

Xinomavro is the wrong variety for a year like this. It ripens late, its skin is thin, and it rots easily. What went into the bottle without strict selection seems dull and barely lasts a few years. Where selection was rigorous, there is good acidity, deep colour and substance - but selection was essential. The agronomist at Kir-Yianni called 2014 the most difficult year of her 25 harvests.

Nemea – red 4.5

The lowest value on this page, and it has a single cause. Around 826 millimetres of precipitation fell in Nemea, one of the highest values of the decade, against an average of about 750. Agiorgitiko in the late-ripening parcels no longer reached full phenolic ripeness and was at the same time under high botrytis pressure. Both together leave a producer little room to manoeuvre.

Santorini – red 7.0

On the island, none of this applied. Instead of wet conditions there were heat spikes, five extreme days above 30 degrees in the middle of ripening, and the Meltemi, together with the dryness, kept rot away, as it almost always does.

Of all things, it was the island's red variety that benefited. Mavrotragano came in fully ripened - in a year in which the leading red varieties of the mainland failed because of the moisture. With Assyrtiko, the warmth demanded a decision: pick early for freshness, or deliberately late for Nychteri. A Nychteri from this vintage stands at 15 percent alcohol by volume.

Crete – 6.5

While the north stood in the rain, Crete remained dry. August brought three heatwaves of three to four days each with maxima around 38 to 39 degrees, and ripening was pushed back by ten days as a result. The quantity turned out smaller, the quality remained very good. At 6.5, the island stands a full point above the national value – in a year that failed on the mainland because of the wet conditions.

Our wines

We tasted eight Greek wines from 2014, from seven producers. The median stands at 90.5 points - clearly above what a 5.5 vintage would lead you to expect.

The reason lies in the list of varieties. All eight are international varieties: five times Merlot or Cabernet, twice Syrah, plus a white Bordeaux blend. Xinomavro and Agiorgitiko, in other words exactly the two varieties on which this year failed, do not appear in our cellar from this vintage.

The Plagios red from Ktima Biblia Chora in Pangeon leads the line-up twice - both bottles in the glass landed on the same score.

Top 3 from our own tastings

Rank 1 – 94+ points Ktima Biblia Chora Plagios red

Rank 2 – 93+ points Christos Kokkalis Trilogia

Rank 3 – 91 points Tsolis Anny's Animus Merlot

All tasting notes from 2014

· Christos Kokkalis Trilogia · 93

· Ktima Biblia Chora Plagios red · 94

· Ktima Gerovassiliou Syrah · 90

· Liappas Winery Roggia red · 89

· Oenogenesis Deka · 89

· Panagiotopoulos Wines Tomos II Merlot · 89

· Tsolis Anny's Animus Merlot · 91

Vintage 2013 · 2014 · Vintage 2015 | All vintages