The Best Wines of the Year 2022

The year 2022 is drawing to a close, and since we already worked through the type of post that is so popular at this time of year, the holiday recommendations (in German), last year, this year there will be a small annual review of the best wines I had in my glass ... from Greece as well as from other countries. These obligatory annual reviews naturally have the problem that they are usually written shortly before the holidays and may therefore leave out a few highlights that are still to come. Even so, I think a post like this makes sense, precisely because it is fascinating to see in which categories the wines from Greece came out ahead for me personally, also with a view to the international competition (which, given my preferences, comes predominantly from France).

Sparkling Wines

We begin with sparkling wines. If only because that is how the year 2022 began for us as well. And it really did begin Greek. The Prelude 2019 from Milia Riza also manages a respectable 90 points, which does the estate's very first wine great credit. (For this article our ratings have been converted from the 20-point system used up to now (in German) into the 100-point system, because we will be carrying on with it in the new year as well; in larger tastings it simply allows for a more satisfying degree of differentiation.)

Shortly afterwards in January, however, for my birthday, there was already a Dom Perignon 1990. And with 96 points that really was a category of its own, and it remained unbeaten over the rest of the year as well ... so this point clearly goes to the international competition. But who knows what 2023 will bring ...

White Wine

Let us turn to (still) white wine. The lion's share of the Greek wines we tasted this year belongs to this category. That is above all thanks to the fact that the summer of 2022 was not as rainy as 2021! We held larger tastings of the indigenous Greek white grape varieties Assyrtiko, Malagousia and (the red-skinned variety) Moschofilero. Added to that were quite a few tastings of blends (for example here and here (in German)) and of international varieties (for example Chardonnay (in German) and Sauvignon Blanc (in German)). What stood out, though, was less the outright high flyers than the very consistent quality in certain areas, particularly among the Moschofilero wines, where a whole series gathered around the 90-point mark. At the same time, several obvious candidates for the front places (such as the Malagousia 2021 from Ktima Gerovassiliou) turned up rather modestly, because the growers had had quite a struggle with the heat waves of the previous year ...

A Greek wine came within a hair's breadth of taking the top spot in this category, one we had already tasted last year (in German) and awarded 94 points: the white Plagios 2020 from Ktima Biblia Chora. At a birthday party in August it showed itself in at least equally good form and, in the unanimous view of the guests, left behind an international field that was anything but weak (from France the Chablis Montserre 2018 from Château de Béru was in the line-up, from Germany the Chardonnay Réserve 2019 from Weingut Bischel and the Chardonnay 2020 from Weingut Saalwächter). It was precisely in this international comparison at a high level that it once again became clear that we had been right to rate the Plagios above the equally well-known Greek Chardonnay from Alpha Estate (the Chardonnay Tramonto). Our tasting note (in German) refers to the 2018 vintage, but the 2020 vintage that we opened this time also had considerably more trouble in this elevated league. The honour of a photograph goes only to the winning wine of each category, but because it was such a fine occasion and because we had reported on it neither on Instagram nor here on the blog, here is at least a link to a picture of this lovely line-up.

In the end, though, and fittingly for this tasting cycle's focus on Greek white grape varieties, the race is won by the white Areti 2019 (a varietal Assyrtiko from the north of Greece) from Ktima Biblia Chora with 95 points.

Red Wines

Unfortunately we too skip over the often neglected rosé wines. For the best rating (in German) here came to no more than 93 points – and it concerns the red-skinned Moschofilero variety at that, which under German wine law is really a white wine.

As far as red wines are concerned, Bordeaux in particular had some thoroughly remarkable representatives in the running this year. That got off to a good start back in January at my birthday with **Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 1990 and Château Rauzan-Segla 1990 **. The former managed an admittedly somewhat disappointing 93 points. I had hoped for more there. But we probably had a little bad luck with the bottle, although I have also read elsewhere that this legendary wine is slowly beginning its downward trend. I hope to get it into my glass in full bloom again. The wine from the Margaux region, by contrast, was simply bursting with power and, at 94 points for the moment, still has clear room to grow ...

Things continued at first-class level at a tasting (for my parents' birthdays) that centred on the 1953 and 1957 vintages. The fill level of the **Château Latour 1957 did not raise all too great hopes, yet every one of our fears proved unfounded. The bottle earned the wine 92 points, which is considerable for the vintage. It was overshadowed, however, by a wine from the right bank that I had somewhat cheekily announced as an “almost-Pétrus”. What is special about the Château Gazin 1953** (here in an excellent bottling by Reidemeister & Ulrichs) is that in 1970 the estate was forced to sell some of its best vineyard land to its neighbours at Château Pétrus. Anyone drinking the famous Pétrus today therefore has wine from vineyards in the glass that were then about half owned by Gazin! So we at least had the (present-day) terrain of Pétrus in our glasses. It may be that this realisation impaired our objectivity somewhat. But even with our enthusiasm somewhat reined in, the wine still came to 94 points quite comfortably.

That was not yet the peak of the decadence with which Bordeaux was allowed to set the pace against the Greek challengers this year. Unexpectedly we had the opportunity to open another special bottle from the right bank, this time not from Pomerol but from Saint-Émilion, namely the **Château Ausone 1948.** That is to say: the business of “opening” is, to be honest, a matter in itself. The wine had been offered online with the remark that the cork had recently fallen into the bottle. The wine was correspondingly more affordable and I struck, since I had recently read that at that time it even happened that the cork was forgotten altogether and the capsule alone preserved the wine satisfactorily, in some cases to this day. The bottle did indeed survive transport in the summer heat and afforded us a very special wine experience (immortalised here in a photo). The wine was in fact not yet oxidised. It was only in a second echo that a very unpleasant wine fault unfortunately came through, one we could not clearly identify, but which with its cabbage impression strongly recalled a reductive note. At least the striking bitter notes observed by others as well were something we could confirm. A very memorable experience in any case!

How do the Bordeaux imitations from Greece hold up? Astonishingly well! The **Economou 2012 from Domaine Economou **(60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot) turned up outside the programme at a dinner, but would comfortably have reached 95 points (on the first day at least).

And the varietal Merlot Lacules Estate 2018/2019 made the Château Bellevue 2019 from Saint-Émilion, acquired for comparison, look like thin water. The Etos 2006 (varietal Merlot) from Ktima Biblia Chora (which is now hard to find even on the secondary market) was also very impressive in this tasting. The tasting note for these is still to come, so let them merely be mentioned here; they are not yet competing for first prize, even though they have already set the bar very high for the tasting notes due next year.

In fairness one should probably add here that the Greek red wines did not live up to expectations without exception. With regard to the other red grape variety that dominates in Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon, the legendary Trilogia 2012 from Christos Kokkalis did not shine as hoped. On the Greek secondary market, however, we were still able to obtain a few bottles of the **Etos 2008 (varietal Cabernet Sauvignon) from Ktima Biblia Chora **, which in turn proved very useful for the Cabernet Sauvignon tasting, for the wine shone even more brightly than its counterpart from 2006 (the Merlot) and reached 95 points.

Despite these already remarkable impressions, the race is ultimately won by two blends of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot, namely the Franco-Greek duo Château Ducru-Beaucaillou 2017 and Ktima Kokotos 2017, which delighted (in German) us equally in a blind tasting and both of which already reach 96 points.

Dessert Wines

That leaves the dessert wines for a sweet close to this article. Here, too, the international team cannot complain of being disadvantaged. For once again my birthday in January offered the opportunity to make an impression with first-class growths. **Château La Tour Blanche 1990 **came to a merely excellent but ultimately not overwhelming 92 points.

Yet things were to get better still for Sauternes/Barsac in the course of the year. Alongside the Latour 1957 and the almost-Petrus 1953 there was also a **Château Coutet 1957.** for dessert. Now the conditions for a bull's-eye for a sweet wine of that year are mixed at best. Some emphasise that the spring frost was devastating for Sauternes. Others at least point out that the hot October, which was detrimental to the Bordeaux vintage as a whole, had a somewhat less harmful effect here. Be that as it may, we evidently had very good luck with the bottle and a wine of indisputably 96 points in the glass.

The last category does not go undivided to France, however. For the **Ktima Montofoli 2013 **managed to delight (in German) us to the same degree.

Conclusion and Outlook

On balance, then, a fairly even picture emerges, even if one wishes to point to a certain distorting effect arising from the sheer quantitative advantage of the Greek wines, and to note that my interest in mature French wines often leads to a selection in which the story, the mere fact of survival, is to the fore and the points awarded turn out lower than would be the case with more recent (or more legendary mature) vintages. And it should be admitted quite openly: Greece cannot of course compete when it comes to the fascination of long-matured wines from estates with centuries of tradition. One resolution for the year 2023 is at least to exploit the naturally smaller potential in this respect to the full and to obtain and put to the test more mature Greek wines (anyone who has some is welcome to get in touch!). At least the **Cava Clauss 1982 from Achaia Clauss **had surprised (in German) us very positively this year with its 93 points and gives grounds for hope in this regard. At the same time, and probably more important for most ordinary consumers, this annual review already shows that Greece does have something to offer when it comes to finding wines that are competitive at the highest international level – and that are often very affordable in price, because wine drinkers in the rest of the world have so far taken little notice of them. In this spirit I hope that this article has given you a little appetite for one or two wines from Greece and for one or two posts on our Instagram profile or here on the blog.