Kechris "Tear of the Pine" 2022 and 2024 Compared

In June 2026, two bottles of the same wine stood side by side on the table. One is the first Retsina ever to achieve Best in Show at the Decanter World Wine Awards: 2024, with 97 points, as one of 50 out of 18,143 wines entered. The other is barely known outside Greece.

By the end of the evening, the famous vintage stood at 91 points, the unknown one at 93. This is not a provocation, nor a quarrel over categories. It is the result of a direct comparison, and it runs counter to vintage expectations of all things: the 2024 comes from the hottest year Macedonia has ever recorded.

Why Retsina Usually Works Differently

Hardly any wine category has such an entrenched reputation. Resin wine, taverna, holiday carafe, and behind it the assumption that cheap wine is being made drinkable with pine resin. That is not entirely unfounded. The Lidl Retsina demonstrates the principle in its purest form: 11 % alcohol, an acidity that recognisably comes from unripe grapes rather than balanced ripeness, and a resin that effectively masks the absence of aromas. 82 points, drinkable for what it is, but precisely a testament to why the method was once so popular.

The Retsinas we have rated so far range between those 82 and 93 points. Eleven points of separation within a category that many consider a single flavour. The Kechris is merely the best-known example of this.

Resin Like Oak

Kechris is a family winery from Thessaloniki with roots going back to 1911; the cellar in Kalochori has existed since 1954. Under Stelios Kechris, who studied oenology in Dijon, and his daughters Eleni, Maria and Zoe, the house has driven the rehabilitation of Retsina forward. The first "Tear of the Pine" dates from 2005 or 2006; the sources do not agree on the year.

The conceptual core comes from Eleni Kechri, and it can be told in a single sentence: the resin is not a preservative but an aromatic and structural element, like oak. The winemaking follows this idea consistently: pre-fermentative cold maceration, fermentation in oak barrels of various origins, resin addition during fermentation at around 15 degrees, warmer than usual for white wine, followed by six months on the fine lees with regular bâtonnage. This is white wine craftsmanship at premium level, into which the resin addition is built like barrel ageing. Understood this way, the resin has nothing to conceal. It is allowed to show itself.

Add to this a legal curiosity that belongs to the story: the wine is classified as Retsina "Appellation by Tradition", not as a PDO. The grapes come from Goumenissa in Kilkis, but the PDO Goumenissa is a red appellation for Xinomavro and Negoska; a white Assyrtiko Retsina simply cannot be labelled under it. The code "LN22" on the label is not a vintage either, but a release code, because Retsina is not legally labelled by vintage in the classic sense. It refers to the 2022 harvest year, picked on 1 September.

The 2022: 91 Points

On the nose, the 2022 shows the resin in multiple layers, dominating towards the back, with sweet blossoms beneath. On the palate, the Assyrtiko makes itself known with good acidity, but then has rather little to contribute aromatically. The finish is good and works in two stages: first the Assyrtiko is allowed to dominate, then the resin makes itself heard once more. It is above all the acidity that sets the tone.

For someone who has tasted many Assyrtiko Retsinas, this is not a stunning wine but a very solid one. We miss a little texture, a little creaminess, a little fruit. The wine threatens to tip into wateriness between acidity and resin.

A caveat belongs here rather than at the end: we tasted the 2022 in the summer of 2026, almost four years after the harvest. Pavlos Gegas rated the wine at 92 to 93(+) and set its drinking window at 2026 to 2033; by that reading, we would have caught it too early rather than too late. Peter Moser gave it 93 points in Falstaff. When the two of them tasted, however, is not stated; the objection about bottle age cannot therefore be directed at us alone. We arrive at 91, and we arrive there not against the critics but alongside them: Julia Harding MW, who has followed the wine for JancisRobinson.com over the years, gave precisely this vintage her lowest rating between 2018 and 2025 (she did not taste 2019 and 2021). Two independent tastings pointing downwards on the same vintage are not yet proof, but they are more than a fluke.

And "only" 91 is the wrong phrase anyway for a wine that sells in Germany for 15 to 18 euros. For comparison within the same house: the simple Kechribari costs under five euros in the half bottle.

The 2024: 93 Points

The 2024 shines on the nose with ethereal but not heavy resin, reminiscent of the pale green of freshly sprouted pine shoots. At the same time, the Assyrtiko is aromatically present, with plenty of fruit. This interplay continues on the palate: sometimes the acidity of the Assyrtiko comes to the fore, sometimes the resin draws attention to itself with mint.

What is decisive, however, is not the interplay but the texture. Resin and wine complement each other physically here, they sit on the same level. That is precisely what we missed in the 2022, where the two run alongside each other. 93 points.

The Thessaloniki Wine & Spirits Trophy 2026 awarded the 2024 gold, 96 points and the category win as "Best Retsina". That is not the Decanter honour, which went to the 2022. In the trade, the two are regularly confused, and whoever reaches for the 97 points will not get the wine we place ahead here.

Why This Runs Against Expectations

Anyone rating the celebrated Decanter star lower than its unknown successor would gladly have the vintage on their side: perhaps 2024 was simply even better than 2022? Unfortunately, that explanation does not hold here; it even points in the opposite direction. Our vintage data show 2024 as an extreme year for Macedonia: the warmest, with the harshest drought and the earliest harvest ever. The white wines in particular struggled, because the heat put acidity and freshness under pressure; nationwide, the whites are the losers of 2024. 2022, by contrast, is considered one of the strongest vintages of the recent decade. The jump from 91 to 93 runs head-on against this expectation. But that was precisely our clear and unanimous impression, and we want to express it with corresponding transparency and emphasis.

The number on which this can be pinned down lies in the analysis: the 2024 holds 7.5 g/l total acidity, compared with 6.80 g/l in the 2022 and 6.5 g/l in the 2023. In a heat year in which the very early harvest was the documented quality lever, such a figure does not come about by itself. Someone here responded to the vintage, and the additional acidity is precisely the framework on which the resin finds a hold in the 2024 and found none in the 2022.

This answers the question with which we set out: the more famous vintage is not the better one. It is the awarded one.

Which Bottle We Would Buy

Our recommendation goes first to the 2024. It is the more coherent, texturally more complete wine, and it costs no more than its famous predecessor. It is nevertheless nice to have a few bottles of the legendary 2022 in the cellar, if only to be able to retrace the comparison oneself in a few years. It is still available: Wine and Nature lists it with the stated 2022 harvest year, in stock, for 17.49 euros per 0.75 l bottle. The wine is well worth the price.

Anyone looking for a Retsina of equal quality but from a different grape variety will find it in the Andreou "Pithos Retsina": a single-varietal Savatiano from Attica, likewise 93 points, whose barrels are additionally steeped in a tea of 42 mountain herbs. And anyone who prefers things quieter altogether should reach for the Mylonas Retsina, the restrained one among the Retsinas we have tasted, 89 points.

If comparisons like these interest you, two vintages of the same wine side by side along with the analysis behind them, then you can have them delivered straight to your inbox with our newsletter. You will find the sign-up just below this article.