Sauvignon Blanc with Assyrtiko, the House Cuvée of the North

Order an estate white in northern Greece and you will remarkably often find the same recipe in your glass: Sauvignon Blanc with Assyrtiko. In Drama and on Pangeon this cuvée is almost a category of its own. The logic behind it is sound. The Sauvignon Blanc brings aromatics, grassy or exotic depending on the interpretation, while the Assyrtiko contributes acidity and structure. In price terms the whole category sits roughly between 10 and 15 euros, it is almost always vinified in stainless steel, and it is drunk young. Over the years I have had a whole series of these wines in the glass, with blending ratios from 50:50 to “predominantly Sauvignon Blanc”, and the differences are greater than the shared label recipe would suggest.

The Benchmark: Pavlidis and Biblia Chora

Ktima Biblia Chora describes its white entry-level wine as the first Greek pairing of Sauvignon Blanc and Assyrtiko. Vangelis Gerovassiliou and Vassilis Tsaktsarlis, both trained in Bordeaux, Tsaktsarlis under Denis Dubourdieu, bottled this wine in 2001 as the very first of the estate founded in 1998, and to this day it carries the name of the house without any suffix. The **Ktima Biblia Chora white 2020**, a cuvée of 60 % Sauvignon Blanc and 40 % Assyrtiko from PGI Pangeon, I rated at 91+: the passion fruit on the nose unfolds slowly, the pressure on the palate takes time, but the acidity, owed to the Assyrtiko and the terroir, is superb, and despite 13.5% alcohol the wine never loses its drinkability.

Anyone not willing to wait reaches for the **Ktima Pavlidis Thema white 2020** from PGI Drama, half and half from both varieties. A lightning starter: the exotic fruit of the Sauvignon Blanc is there the moment the bottle is opened, a still crisp apricot dominates the palate, the tannin is perfectly integrated. For me the estate's best wine and worth 92 points.

Finally, the **Ktima Biblia Chora white 2025**, again in a 60/40 ratio, is the most exotic vintage of this wine in a long time, with papaya and mango on the nose. On the palate it is the structure that convinces first, a good grip that unfolds through the mid-palate, and on the finish an acidity that does not push itself forward and precisely for that reason makes the wine drinkable. It already presents itself remarkably complete, the estate recommends drinking it within the first two years, and by now I encounter it in every Greek restaurant. Monica Larner rated it at 91 points in the Wine Advocate; for me, at 93, it is the best vintage of this wine so far. In Greece it costs around 15 euros.

As for the years themselves: 2020 stands at 8.5 out of 10 in Drama as on Pangeon, 2025 at 8.0, both well above the long-term median of 7.0. The differences between these wines are therefore down to recipe and producer rather than vintage.

Seventy Per Cent and More

The **Estate Manolesakis Gennima Psychis white 2025** from PGI Drama clearly backs the French variety with 70 % Sauvignon Blanc and 30 % Assyrtiko. The grapes grow near Adriani at 200 to 300 metres, harvesting takes place at night, only the free-run must is used, and the wine sees no wood. For a long time, incidentally, this was a three-way cuvée with Chardonnay; only with the 2025 did the Chardonnay disappear. On the nose a little honey, a trace of mint, some nectarine; on the palate the wine opens with good grip, which however somewhat smothers the acidity. At 12 % alcohol it remains a little thin, the finish is short, the Sauvignon Blanc shows its grassy side. What it does, it does well: a pleasant quaffing wine that brings enough acidity to go with white fish. 87 points. In Greece it costs around 11 euros.

The **Domaine Costa Lazaridi Amethystos white 2020**, also PGI Drama, goes further still, a cuvée whose proportions the winery has, according to the winery, for many years given as 85 % Sauvignon Blanc and 15 % Assyrtiko. The citrus aromatics are carried through with complete consistency here, the green notes stand entirely in the service of a lemon fruit that dominates the finish, and without a well-matched dish the acidity can seem very sharp. The finish is enormously long for an entry-level wine, but at the tasting several found the profile too insistent. 84 points, with the note that devotees of yellow lemon may well find themselves rhapsodising here.

Thrace, Without a Seal

Passas Winery lies in Stavrochori in the regional unit of Xanthi, in Thrace, at the foot of the Rhodope mountains in the Nestos valley, where tobacco had displaced viticulture for around a hundred years. The family planted the first vines in 2007, and the winery has existed since 2016. Mavra Nera means “black waters” and refers to the land along the Nestos. The wine carries no protected designation: Stavrochori is not among the municipalities of PGI Thrace, and Vidiano is not permitted there in any case.

The **Passas Mavra Nera white 2020**, originally 70 % Sauvignon Blanc and 30 % Assyrtiko according to the winery, I had noted at 89 points: lovely yellow fruit, racy green notes, clearly picked riper than elsewhere, but at only 12.5% alcohol it lacked a little extract and roundness.

The **Passas Mavra Nera white 2025** has been rebuilt: 40 % Assyrtiko, 30 % Vidiano, 30 % Sauvignon Blanc. For the first time in this series, Assyrtiko leads, and with the originally Cretan Vidiano a third variety joins in. On 4 August it stood in the glass alongside the Gennima Psychis, and the comparison was instructive. Markedly more intense on the nose: jasmine blossom, green apple, passion fruit. On the palate an acidity that grips from the very first moment, plenty of mirabelle, surprisingly little creaminess for the Vidiano share, and in the aftertaste the Sauvignon Blanc emerges fruity and exotic. The 13 % alcohol visibly does it good; what was missing in 2020 has been fixed here. Complexity in the sense of several simultaneous layers it does not offer, but what is there unfolds with exceptional harmony. Only the synthetic stopper seals poorly once replaced; this wine deserved a better closure. 90 points, for around 11 euros in Greece. The same Sauvignon Blanc that serves the grassy side at Manolesakis shows itself exotic here: two paths with one variety, and the more interesting one came, of all places, from outside any appellation.

An Offshoot in the South

That the idea has also been taken up far from the north is shown by the **Ktima Paliomilos Sauvignon Blanc & Assyrtiko 2019**. The small estate was founded in 2012 in Myrsini in Ilia on the Peloponnese and moved to Folegandros around 2020; the cuvée grew out of the experiments of the early years, first with Assyrtiko, later joined by the Sauvignon Blanc. According to the winery, the 2019 consists of 70 % Assyrtiko and 30 % Sauvignon Blanc; the Assyrtiko comes from Folegandros, the Sauvignon Blanc from the Peloponnese. So here, unlike the custom in the north, the Assyrtiko leads, and island and mainland meet in one bottle. At 12 % alcohol this is a light wine in which the exotic aromas of the Sauvignon Blanc meet the taut acidity of the Assyrtiko, which keeps it fresh even with age. Not complex, but honest and uncomplicated; as the opening wine of a tasting of Greek white two-variety cuvées it provided a solid start. 86 points. From the 2023 vintage, incidentally, the name stands for a cuvée of Assyrtiko with Malagouzia, so that chapter is closed there. The experiment was a success nonetheless: the combination works outside the north too, only the summit remains in Drama and on Pangeon.

What the Bottles Tell Together

Lay the scores side by side and a pattern emerges. The best wines of this category are those in which the Sauvignon Blanc leads only slightly, if at all: 50:50 at Pavlidis (92), 60/40 at Biblia Chora (91+ and 93). Where it clearly dominates, things get thinner: 87 at 70 %, 84 at 85 %. Nor do the two Assyrtiko-led wines surpass the balanced ones: the Passas 2025 with 40 % Assyrtiko plus Vidiano reaches 90, the Paliomilos with 70 % Assyrtiko 86. The strongest wines thus sit in the middle, at 50 to 60 % Sauvignon Blanc, and the formula fits exactly: Assyrtiko as the backbone, Sauvignon as the perfume. Tip the ratio, and either a single theme is all that remains, like the lemon in the Amethystos, or the supporting foundation goes missing, as with the Gennima Psychis.

My recommendation follows accordingly. Anyone wanting to buy one bottle takes the Biblia Chora white 2025, the best wine in this line-up, for around 15 euros in Greece. Anyone looking for something that shows everything from the first sip reaches for the Thema from Pavlidis. And anyone after the discovery orders the Mavra Nera 2025 for around 11 euros: a wine that is barely known in Greece, manages without any seal, and with the Vidiano hints at a direction of which I would gladly see more.

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