Vintage 2022

dry · scarce · saved in the autumn

Nationwide 8.0 out of 10 · Confidence of rating: high

Macedonia

Naoussa · PDO – Red 8.0 (Confidence: high)

Amyndeon · PDO – Red 8.0 (Confidence: high)

Thessaloniki with Epanomi · PGI – Red 7.5 · White 8.0 (Confidence: medium)

Goumenissa · PDO – Red 7.5 · White 7.5 (Confidence: medium)

Epirus

Metsovo · PGI – Red 8.0 · White 8.0 (Confidence: medium)

Thessaly

Karditsa · PGI – Red 8.0 · White 8.0 (Confidence: low)

Central Greece

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

Atalanti and Opountia Lokridas · PGI – Red 8.0 · White 8.0 (Confidence: medium)

Peloponnese

Nemea · PDO – Red 8.0 (Confidence: medium)

Mantinia · PDO – White 8.0 (Confidence: medium)

Cyclades

Santorini · PDO – Red 8.0 · White 9.0 (Confidence: high)

Crete 7.0 · Pangeon 7.5 · Drama 6.5 · Peloponnese outside Nemea and Mantinia 7.0 (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. Epanomi lies in the regional unit of Thessaloniki.

The third year in a row to score an eight, and by far the scarcest. In 2022 Greece brought in around 2.1 million hectolitres, 14 percent less than the previous year and one of the smallest quantities in decades. It was the second pronounced dry year in succession, hardest on the south, the islands and the east.

There was no nationwide catastrophe like the medicane two years earlier. Instead, this vintage was decided regionally, and in two areas it turned out in opposite ways.

Macedonia – Naoussa 8.0 · Amyndeon 8.0

The winter was severely cold, the mountains covered in snow, interrupted by intervals of rain. The vines went into complete winter dormancy, which increased the fertility of the buds, and the groundwater table was replenished. March arrived considerably colder and wetter than usual, after which it turned dry. Budbreak came on 8 April, about a week later than the year before.

The critical moment came at the beginning of September: 100 millimetres of heavy rain over a late-ripening red that still needed weeks. What followed decided the vintage – almost 40 days of hot days and cool nights, with drier air from 5 September onwards. The rain was the risk, the 40 days that followed were the rescue. For Xinomavro in Amyndeon, the gap between day and night acted like a concentrator, for sugar as well as for pigments. Kir-Yianni compared the quality to 2019.

On the southeastern slopes of Paiko, Goumenissa followed the same path but ends half a point lower. There too, late snowfalls delayed budbreak, there too the summer stayed free of sharp heat waves from July onwards, and the September rain held up the late varieties for only a few days without damaging health or quality; the quantity was ten percent above 2020. The difference lies in the variety: for Cabernet and Merlot the year was excellent, for the appellation's Xinomavro only good – better than the previous year, but not at the level of the rest of the country.

Santorini – White 9.0

The highest white wine score we have ever awarded, and it stands, of all things, in a dry year.

On Santorini you normally get quantity or quality, not both. In 2019 the quality came without the quantity, and in 2025 that repeated itself with an 85 percent loss. In our whole series, 2022 is the only vintage in which both came together.

The reason lies in the preceding winter. From October 2021 to mid-March, 320 millimetres of rain fell, against only 190 in the same period of the previous year. For the kouloura bush vines, which work without irrigation at a hard water ceiling, exactly that decides whether a vine survives or grows. Added to this came a warm spring without the strong winds that otherwise destroy the sensitive growth stages on the island – three years earlier, precisely those winds had wiped out the harvest. Fruit set succeeded accordingly, and unlike 2021 there were no heat waves.

Picking began in mid-August, staggered by variety: Assyrtiko and Athiri on the 14th, Mavrotragano on the 15th, Mandilaria on 27 August, Aidani not until 8 September. In between, on 24 August, a heavy rain of about 27 millimetres fell, the like of which experienced observers there had not seen in twenty years, and interrupted the harvest in several zones. The Assyrtiko was largely in by then; it hit the late varieties.

In the end, the island's production was 25 to 30 percent above the previous year.

Peloponnese – Nemea 8.0 · Mantinia 8.0

Mild weather with above-average rain, which in a second dry year was a welcome exception. The price for it came in spring: frosts at the end of March and hail damaged parts of the Nemea plain as well as Gymno, Asprokambos and Leontio, and budbreak and flowering were delayed by about two weeks. On the valley floor this produced very ripe, generous wines with high acidity, since heat waves stayed away.

In Mantinia, Moschofilero budded around ten days later than usual. Spring rain and overcast skies favoured downy mildew; the summer heat wave was cushioned by the altitude, and the wide day-night range preserved freshness and acidity.

Attika – 8.0

Here, 2022 was a tough vintage. A normal winter with plenty of mountain snow was followed by a cool spring that delayed the start of the growing season. May brought rain and, in places, hail; flowering was delayed, fruit set was thin in some areas – all together, around 20 percent less quantity than the previous year.

The summer stayed cool, with rain in June and July at normal temperatures and an even ripening. Then came August, and with it persistent rain, above all in the second half of the month: interrupted harvest, disease pressure. September improved, and the late reds did not come in until mid to late October.

On the North Euboean Gulf, in Lokris, the same year unfolded more straightforwardly. It stayed very cold into April, with snow in waves, which delayed budbreak and flowering; the usual June rains then carried the berries evenly through ripening, and the weeks before the harvest stayed dry, which protected the sensitive white varieties from fungal infection. The delay was made up, picking took place at the usual dates and until the end of September. Compared with the sharply reduced previous year, the quantity was around half as much again, back at the 2020 level, with a balanced ratio of sugar and acidity.

Karditsa – 8.0

In the Thessalian plain, specifically for the zone around Mesenikolas, little spring rain fell; the summer stayed mild, precipitation minimal and humidity low. It turned hot during the ripening phase, normal at harvest. The quantity was around 30 percent above 2021.

Drama – 6.5

The weakest score of this vintage, and it has a different reason than anywhere else. Drama is cool and late; when a year fails to deliver the warmth at the end, the reds there do not run into rot, but into unfinished tannins. Exactly that explains 2022 in this place.

Our wines

We have tasted 24 Greek wines from 2022 so far, from 17 producers. The median stands at 91.5 points.

At the top is the Ovilos white from Ktima Biblia Chora in Pangeon. Behind it, narrowly separated from each other, the Clos Stegasta Rosé from T-Oinos in the Cyclades and the Assyrtiko from Vriniotis Winery on Evia.

From Santorini itself, the area that ranks highest in this vintage, we have so far had two bottles in the glass: the Assyrtiko from Estate Argyros at 93 and the Santorini from Canava Chrissou-Tselepos at 91. With 24 notes, this is a vintage that is still growing with us.

Top 3 of our own tastings

Rank 1 – 95+ points Ktima Biblia Chora Ovilos white

Rank 2 – 94+ points T-Oinos Clos Stegasta Rosé

Rank 3 – 94 points Vriniotis Winery Assyrtiko