Agiorgitiko Cuvées

Alongside Xinomavro, Agiorgitiko is surely the best-known Greek red grape variety. Through the PDO Nemea it has achieved international fame. We've already discussed several notable Agiorgitikos from Nemea and the rest of Greece here on the blog (see, for instance, here (in German)). When it comes to cuvées, though, one can't shake the impression that the Agiorgitiko grape lags well behind Xinomavro. You don't get the sense that many winemakers place a great deal of trust in it in that respect. The idea that the next Greek "icon wine" might be an Agiorgitiko cuvée seems fairly far-fetched.

The basics of the variety – how it tastes, what styles exist, what it pairs with – can be found in our big Agiorgitiko guide.

Admittedly: over the course of researching this article, it dawned on me that this impression owed something to my own prejudices too. In my memory I could barely recall an impressive cuvée – and yet such wines suddenly started turning up everywhere, the moment I'd begun the draft for this article with the remark about how rare they were: a neighbour with no deliberately curated stock of Greek wine happened to discover a relevant bottle in his wine rack, and at a hotel in Crete no fewer than four wines with Agiorgitiko suddenly caught my eye on the wine list, thoroughly overshadowing the other cuvées…

And yes, Agiorgitiko cuvées are lacking neither in prevalence nor in history, as I discovered after a while of observing the market for aged Greek wines. With a bit of patience I did manage to find some exciting older wines for the article.

In one respect, admittedly, my prejudice was justified: the Xinomavro variety has, through PDO Rapsani – above all thanks to the company Tsantali (which, until 2005, was the only estate producing there) – managed to play a role as a blending partner even at PDO level. Agiorgitiko can point to no such venerable tradition. In this article we'll pursue the question of whether the variety nonetheless has the potential to produce equally impressive and characterful wines.

Rosé wines

First, as a kind of aperitif, let's turn to two rosé wines produced by Barafakas Winery.

The Saint Modesto 2021 cuvée, to which Grenache Rouge contributes 50%, is very solid. In Greece I rarely like this variety in the rosés with more residual sugar in which it's so popular. Here, though, the whole thing hangs together very well. The wine is very balanced in its aromatics and structure, shows decent grip, and at 13% is fairly full-bodied. A very good 16 points.

Even more fascinating, though, is the same estate's off-dry cuvée Τρείς Μάγισσες 2021. At 2.4 bar the wine has roughly as much pressure as a car tyre (a "Perlwein" in German nomenclature – i.e. semi-sparkling). With 18 g/L residual sugar and a low 11% alcohol, this makes for a fascinating combination, especially since light bitter notes on the finish stop it drifting into kitsch. The "three witches" are Agiorgitiko (80%), Syrah (10%) and Moschofilero (10%). And indeed, fruit, racy character and floral notes come together quite beguilingly here. Without question the best off-dry rosé from Greece we've had the chance to taste this year. An outstanding 17 points.

All good things come in threes…

After this prelude we can now turn our attention to the reds. A subject that's come up on the blog before is the variety paired with the classic Bordeaux grapes Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Three wines deserve particular mention here.

In the classic from Katogi Averoff, Agiorgitiko does indeed already play a fairly prominent role, contributing a full 30% (Cabernet Sauvignon has the edge at 40%, Merlot likewise contributes 30%). We rated the 2018 here (in German) at 16.5 points.

Not quite as long a tradition, but groundbreaking nonetheless, is the Amethystos, created in the early 1990s by Vassilios Tsaktsarlis for Domaine Costa Lazaridi, which last year, still young (2018), was very jammy and worth 16 points, while aged (2015) it was a very refined pleasure worth 17 points (see here (in German)). Here, though, Agiorgitiko contributes only 10%.

The house wine from Biblia Chora, which has the highest Merlot share of these wines (45%), gives even just 15% Agiorgitiko a clear function nonetheless: making the wine, even young, a fruity drinking experience that we too found worth (in German) 17 points.

There are a number of other wines on the Greek market that likewise combine Agiorgitiko with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, which we hope to be able to cover in future. These include, for instance, the Cuvée Lantides from Lantides Winery, aged 24 months in oak barrels (40% Agiorgitiko, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot).

The wines mentioned so far have history, and are economically very significant too. Even so, they contribute only a little to Agiorgitiko's image as a potent blending partner. Because in these cuvées, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon undoubtedly still carry the main load. It's different with another classic: the Porfyros from the eco pioneers at Domaine Spiropoulos (PGI Peloponnese).

Here Agiorgitiko dominates, supported by other international varieties (in the vintage tasted, by Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon; in other vintages, partly also by Cabernet Franc or Syrah; as a rule the Agiorgitiko share seems to sit around 60%). We recently managed to get hold of a 1996 vintage online. A Greek wine from before the turn of the millennium is a rarity on the German secondary market. Comparing that with Bordeaux, one is once again vividly reminded of just how different the starting conditions for Greek winemaking are. But this wine demonstrates impressively that people knew how to make very competent wine "back then" too. On the nose, distinctly sweet-oxidative notes are already showing, and the undergrowth character is immediately present. On the palate, though, alongside mushroomy aromas, there's still clear fruit. The wine is also still carried by good acidity. The over a year spent ageing in new French oak barrels has certainly done the wine's longevity good, but now also lends it slightly too prominent oak aromas. On top of that, we've noted (in German) before with Agiorgitiko that clear fruit can turn rather brittle after a few days, which reinforces this hint of sawdust. Still, a remarkable wine, one that's already somewhat past its peak but that still clearly deserves a notable very good 16 points – and thereby easily outdoes many an excellent Cru Bourgeois from Bordeaux. The 2018 vintage can be bought in Germany for a little over €10 a bottle – and then, as an experiment, laid down until 2044…

Besides the combination with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, there are also a few other cuvées with three varieties in total. Two are worth mentioning here, in which Merlot has been replaced by other grapes.

As with Katogi Averoff, Agiorgitiko also contributes 30% to the red Avarinó from Nestor Winery (PGI Peloponnese) – again alongside 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, with the remaining 30% taken up here by Grenache Rouge.

At 12% the wine is very light and surely intended more for early drinking. On the nose, though, the 2019 still shows very fruity, and the cherry on the palate pleases us a great deal. There's no reason to give it less than a very good 16 points. In Germany you can get the current vintage for under €5. Admittedly this wine doesn't have a very long tradition yet – indeed, for the 2019 some bottles were even printed with the outdated label, meaning it still says Merlot on the bottle rather than Agiorgitiko.

In stark contrast to that stands a wine we recently managed to win at auction, and which represents the biggest surprise of the research for this article: the Cava Clauss 1982 from Achaia Clauss.

Not much can be found out about this 40-year-old wine online, other than that it was made (without specifying the exact ratio) from Agiorgitiko, Mavrodaphne and Cabernet Sauvignon. The estate is of course known within the PDO Patras for its dessert wines from the second-named variety. But a PDO Nemea is produced there too. After four decades, we didn't have much hope left for what is, after all, a "vin de table". But we were quite wrong! The short cork was still a perfect fit, and the wine poured into the glass a sparkling scarlet. Aromatically it shows a touch of undergrowth, though nothing remotely musty or mushroom-strewn. What clearly dominates is the fruit, above all redcurrant.

On the palate the wine then wins you over completely with a crisp acidity and a wonderful drive. A wine you can simply drink down with great pleasure even after all this time! Entirely unexpectedly, we therefore have to award a magnificent 17.5 points.

It seems 1982 – a vintage of the century in Bordeaux – must have been very good in Greece too! Unfortunately there are no vintage reports for Greece as a whole; even in more recent years you only find reports on individual regions here and there – above all from Yiannis Karakasis. Otherwise, at most, you get hold of producers' harvest reports, which are hard to judge. But weather data does at least seem to clearly confirm a wet spring and a dry summer. Comprehensive vintage reports are perhaps the biggest desideratum when it comes to Greek wine journalism! It's also very interesting to see that the label boasts of being one of "only" 139,564 bottles. That

becomes a little more comprehensible once you consider that in the 1980s the wine "Demestica" was released onto the market in a print run of some 20 million (!) bottles. The historic estate, founded in 1861 by the German Gustav Clauss – who gave the cuvée its name – has suffered greatly from changes of ownership and restructuring (Konstantinos Lazarakis MW writes about this in The Wines of Greece), and today is really only known for the dessert wine Mavrodaphne. Interestingly, a large-scale modernisation took place in exactly the year 1983. Does the excellent condition of our wine have something to do with the fact that it still dates from the preceding era?

It would be very interesting to taste the Cuvée III red from Domain Mega Spileo some time, in which the varietal composition is the same. Cabernet Sauvignon and Mavrodaphne each contribute 40%, Agiorgitiko 20% – which could mean less than in the Cava Clauss, assuming the order in which the varieties are listed has any significance. (The estate did not respond to enquiries.)

Another native variety with plenty of tannin turns up in the cuvée from Mylonas Winery, made of Merlot (40%), Agiorgitiko (40%) and Mandilaria (40%). That's another wine we'll try to cover in a follow-up article. The estate's Malagousia and especially its Assyrtiko have already impressed us a great deal.

A little more international, but nonetheless very innovative, seems to be the Nohma from Ktima Palivou. Alongside 60% Agiorgitiko come 23% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7% Syrah – two international varieties that are otherwise usually played off against each other as Agiorgitiko's respective exclusive blending partner (see below). After 12 months ageing in acacia barrels, they mature together with the Agiorgitiko, which is a year younger, for a further 12 months in French oak.

A close partnership…

After this impressive journey into the past, what follows will focus on wines in which Agiorgitiko only has to contend with a single other variety. This is the best way to get an overview of the dynamics Agiorgitiko unleashes when paired with other grapes.

We had already discussed, for instance, the Estate Manolesakis's attempt, with the Pelagia, to capture Agiorgitiko's delicacy via Pinot Noir – with genuinely notable (16.5 points), if certainly not yet resounding, success (in German). (The 2018 vintage – somewhat startlingly – did in fact make it to spot 32 on the "50 Great Greek Wines".)

The blend with Mavroudi produced by Monemvasia Winery also sounds very interesting. This cuvée has, at any rate, already received praise from Yiannis Karakasis. Hopefully we can follow up with a review in the near future. In what follows, we'll restrict ourselves to cuvées with the three well-known international varieties Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.

We also still need to taste, at some point, the red Little Ark from Lantides Winery – since there, the two varieties competing for the rank of best Greek red grape, Agiorgitiko and Xinomavro, go hand in hand.

… with Merlot

Just recently we'd touched on (in German) the case of cuvées that, following the motto "birds of a feather flock together," can sometimes turn out to be surprisingly convincing wines. The case discussed there involved two varieties each heavy on tannin. Something similar applies to the combination of the rather fruity, delicate Agiorgitiko with the likewise rather gentle Merlot. So far, though, it hasn't really managed to establish itself.

Admittedly, Agiorgitiko did play a role in earlier vintages of the red Plagios from Ktima Biblia Chora. We rated the last vintage with 15% Agiorgitiko, 2012, at a respectable 17.5 points. But the switch to exclusively Merlot was probably the right decision, since the 2013 (in German) and 2014 vintages performed even better.

There don't seem to be many producers who give Agiorgitiko a bigger role alongside Merlot. Besides the producers discussed here, there's also Ktima Evharis, which produces, with the Melapus, a wine of 60% Agiorgitiko and 40% Merlot (8 months in barrel).

In the Viale die Parioli 44 from the 2020 vintage by Fteri Vinum Winery in PGI Arcadia, the two varieties are combined in a 1:1 ratio.

On the nose, very typical Agiorgitiko aromatics show, covering more the floral than the fruity spectrum. At first there's also an impression of a lot of alcohol, which, given the 12.5%, quickly turns out to be an illusion – and is actually down to very distinct rum aromas. On the palate the wine is then rather restrained, the Merlot cutting in early with dark olive, and the fruit stays fairly muted. On top of that there's a slightly metallic aftertaste. All told, though, this is already a very good 15.5 points. We suspect, too, that this wine will improve further with age. In its current state, the wine is still marked by a somewhat exaggerated seriousness that doesn't quite allow for true drinking pleasure. It remains to be seen whether this wine – surprisingly opaque for a Merlot-Agiorgitiko cuvée – will still release its aromas with more maturity.

Olympia Land Estate has been experimenting with the Merlot-Agiorgitiko combination for a while now, straight – less than 70km as the crow flies – to the west, into PGI Ilia. In the Pheidias too (whose first vintage was produced in 2011), both varieties contribute equally.

In spring 2021 we had already tasted the 2015 vintage. Plum dominated on the nose, joined on the palate by cranberry notes. As far as the fruit went, that was genuinely convincing. However, we couldn't shake the impression that this wine had already passed its peak. It lacked complexity, and only a few ethereal nuances (fir, eucalyptus, rosemary) could have earned it 15.5 points. Since, on a visit to the estate, we learned that the wine is deliberately left on the bottle for several more years after its time in wood, we suspected we might simply have had bad luck with our bottle. Then, in autumn 2021, we were given a sample of the 2016 vintage now just coming onto the market – and breathed a sigh of relief that we hadn't already published our earlier impressions. Because the wine now showed, quite to the contrary, still in full force. The ethereal and fruity aromatics were confirmed, but the whole impression was far more layered and lasting. And the tannins were even showing themselves fairly aggressive still. We still have a small bone to pick with the alcohol (actually just 13.5%, versus 14% the year before) – which, in the estate's Assyrtiko, worked wonderfully despite a very high value, but here comes across a touch hot. And while both the aromatics and the tannin structure are there and well developed, they run a little in parallel. Perhaps that's where the integration is actually still to happen. We give the wine an outstanding 16.5 points – and all our attention over the coming years.

One can't quite shake the impression that blending with Merlot works far more easily precisely in the less complicated wines, while the marriage still seems a touch forced in the more serious ones, and it remains an open question to what extent the use of oak really guarantees a long marriage.

A very successful example of the first category would be the Clio, The Red Muse 2018 from Muses Winery (PGI Central Greece).

Merlot has a slight edge here at 60%, but leaves Agiorgitiko plenty of aromatic room. At 12.5%, as light as the Avarinó from Nestor Winery, the cherry aromatics here are more precise and, combined with nougat notes, simply rather delicious – if not especially complex. Precisely in this more easy-drinking style, though, one can certainly already speak of a success – one that, interestingly, comes across as thoroughly cheerful even at the right-hand edge of the producer's stated 2–4-year drinking window… Please, more wines like this one, to which we give an outstanding 16.5 points – and have drunk up very quickly indeed… (which, at well under €10, isn't too much of a problem).

Naturally, not every Agiorgitiko-Merlot cuvée designed for easy drinking pleasure is automatically such a success. One of the aforementioned hotel wines showed me that: the Ariston from Loukas Winery in Megara.

Here 12% alcohol and good fruit combine into a perfectly passable wine, which, admittedly, lacks the complexity to reach beyond a still-good 15 points.

… with Cabernet Sauvignon

Agiorgitiko doesn't have the best ageing potential in the world. You notice that in the fact that even wines with wonderful primary fruit often turn rather brittle (in German) just a day after opening. It would therefore seem to make sense to give the variety a robust partner able to prop up the structure with a decent portion of tannin.

And indeed, we've already discussed the cuvée with Cabernet Sauvignon from Oenotria Land here. The already magnificent 17.5 points (the vintage tasted (in German) last year was the 2018) suggest there's even more room to grow with further ageing. Here too, though, the emphasis once again lies on the clearly dominant Cabernet Sauvignon, at 90% (with quite magnificent oak-ageing aromatics). The ratio is reversed, for instance, in the red Cuvée Prestige from Domaine Skouras, which unfortunately we haven't tasted yet.

The varieties stood in a more balanced ratio in a wine that has achieved cult status and is unfortunately no longer available on the secondary market: the Mova from Christos Kokkalis (also PGI Ilia), which consisted of 70% Agiorgitiko and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon – the second wine to the "Trilogia," a varietal Cabernet Sauvignon that, for various reasons, was long considered Greece's only potential "icon wine" in Germany. I had what is, to my knowledge, the last vintage of the Mova ever produced in the glass a few years ago (that must have been the 2014). A racy, spicy wine with a great deal of individuality! Unfortunately it's no longer produced in this form; it's been replaced by the wine "Dialogos," in which Syrah takes Cabernet Sauvignon's place. More on that shortly…

It's a shame that this combination with Cabernet Sauvignon can otherwise hardly be tasted any more – at least not as a serious wine. As an everyday drinking wine, the cuvée is encountered a little more often. Not bad, for instance, is the Charisma, bottled by Semeli Estate for the Grecotel hotel chain, which I recently got to try on holiday.

The wine is denser in colour, has enough alcohol (13%) and noticeable tannin. On top of that there's rather delicious sour cherry on the palate. The Agiorgitiko share isn't stated, but must be substantial, since floral notes are clearly present. This is a good wine at the upper end of the spectrum, so 15 points.

The red Pandora from Cavino, which the hotel also had on its wine list, fares distinctly worse. This PGI Peloponnese wine is available cheaply at LIDL.

The mere 12% alcohol on the label already gives away what's clearly apparent on the palate: a lack of grape ripeness. The wine is aromatically very green, and the Cabernet Sauvignon doesn't contribute any noteworthy supporting tannin. The wine is correspondingly pale. Cherry aromatics are present. The wine is already good, but with 14 points only just about. Interestingly, it seems the blending partner here was switched from Syrah in earlier years – in the opposite direction from Mova-Dialogos.

It would be lovely to see more attempts to make wines pairing the two varieties discussed here with an eye to ageability. For a while, Boutari produced a wine called Ode at its Mantinia estate. It seems this has since been replaced by the Simio Stixis. The price bracket, though, again suggests one should expect a rather easy-drinking wine without excessive ambition.

Distinctly more promising is the not-yet-tasted Ktima Lapotripi from Sokos Wines, where at least 18 months of oak ageing is invested (60% Agiorgitiko, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon)… Perhaps it keeps the Mova tradition alive?

… with Syrah

Overall the tendency seems to be towards pairing Agiorgitiko with the equally racy Syrah. The following list is ordered by the Agiorgitiko share in the cuvée, in descending order.

A fairly successful entry-level wine is the Oneiros Helios red 2019 from Semeli Estate.

Here Agiorgitiko is given the dominant role at 80%. Alongside decent fruit (raspberry above all) there's even a touch of oak. At first you think of oak chips, but the solution to the puzzle is six months' ageing in used barrels. That at least gets you oak aromatics for little money, if that's what you're after. It's not, admittedly, as well integrated as in more expensive wines. Already a very good wine at 15.5 points.

Internationally, perhaps the best-known Agiorgitiko cuvée of all is the Thema red from Ktima Pavlidis.

Syrah is in the minority at 40%, but is clearly recognisable already from the violet hues. On the nose, the 2017 vintage last year showed lovely cherry fruit and rich butter caramel, underpinned by a touch of graphite. On the palate the Syrah appears with only a little pepper but a great deal of blueberry. On top of that there's oak that's already very well integrated. A very lovely wine, whose finish is unfortunately only medium-length and a touch too dominated by the alcohol (14.5%). At the same time, though, it's carried by very pleasant spice notes, above all cinnamon. Not least for that reason, already an outstanding cuvée at 16.5 points. With all factors in balance, there's clearly still considerably more in it.

The ratio of the two varieties is perfectly even in the red Dialogos from Ktima Dio Ipsi, a satellite estate of Ktima Biblia Chora meant to carry on Christos Kokkalis's legacy in PGI Ilia.

One may regret the switch to Cabernet Sauvignon as blending partner in view of the fate of the "Mova," but one has to admit that the new wine – here the 2019 vintage – is very successful. Even the label suits the violet-hued wine perfectly. On the nose, ashy aromas immediately recall Ktima Biblia Chora's house style – more specifically the red estate wine (in German) (without Syrah). Fitting with that, you also find bacony aromas on the palate, presumably actually contributed by the Syrah variety. Forest fruits dominate aromatically. The tannin is very fine, the interplay very good. 14% alcohol is exactly right. The finish is medium-length, spice-driven. The wine has an outstanding drive. An incredibly delicious wine that deserves an outstanding 17 points. What it still lacks for higher spheres is a touch of complexity – which could well still develop with more maturity, though.

In the Thiseas cuvée from Andreou Winery, finally, Agiorgitiko once again only plays second fiddle, at 30%.

The estate, in existence since 1995, only switched to bottling in 2017. Wanting to present a "gastronomic wine" straight away is already quite ambitious. What starts out rather restrained on the nose then actually shows genuinely expressive on the palate. There's a great deal of dark fruit here, combined with pleasantly subtle spices. Blueberry, pepper – but also violet – become ever more beguiling. Above all, the wine also remains a pleasure as it warms up – because, at just 13% alcohol, it's remarkably slender for a Greek red. A dense, very impressive cuvée, to which we give a magnificent 17.5 points.

Even less Agiorgitiko – just 10% – then features in the eponymous cuvée from Oenotria Land (more here), to which we already referred above as the analogous wine with 90% Cabernet Sauvignon instead of Syrah.

We close this article, then, with yet another wine that needs to be considered for a follow-up post. There are still a few wines left to discuss that will further round out the picture sketched here in broad strokes – and might perhaps even give it entirely new contours. For now, we hope that the tasting notes and reflections gathered here offer some useful pointers for pursuing, glass in hand, the question of what Agiorgitiko can achieve in cuvées…