The Wine Scout: Greece?

by Merritt Olson

I’ve never done anything except sell and make wine, so I don’t know if people in other professions are the same way, but generally speaking, people in the wine business are completely preoccupied with our own industry. We are obsessed with wine. I mean OBSESSED. It’s all we talk about, to anyone who will listen. In fact, take a look at this video. While it’s true that those four guys represent one extreme of the scale, the people in this movie aren’t alone — there are legions of men and women who voraciously read about, taste, and otherwise consume wine from all over the world, and can’t wait to share their discoveries in their jobs as sommeliers.

For the past couple of years my sommelier friends (it’s pronounced som-muhl-yay, by the way, not som-molly-yay) have been going on and on about Greek wine and how it’s the next big thing. I’m not gonna lie: I totally let stereotypes get in the way of enjoyment, and I essentially refused to believe that Greek wine could be anything better than average. I mean, I enjoy a glass of retsina with my gyros as much as the next person, but serious wine? Come on.

Lately, though, it’s been unavoidable — Greek wine is showing up EVERYWHERE — and, even more important, I have no excuse because many of the ones my friends keep crowing about are cheap. So, what’s the deal with Greek wine and why should we drink it?

The Greeks have been making wine for 6,500 years (pretty much longer — or more consistently, anyway — than anyone anywhere) and they were responsible for getting vines to the rest of Europe. They have some of the oldest vines in the world (on Santorini they have root systems that are upward of 400 years old!). So why, with all this experience in winemaking and grape growing, wouldn’t we drink it here in the states?

For starters, even though the Greeks have been making wine for (literally) centuries, they were under Ottoman (Muslim) rule during the time that French and Italian wineries were experiencing tremendous growth in knowledge and improvement in winemaking techniques. So although winemaking was allowed in limited quantities (and considered a valuable source of tax revenue), the industry was fairly stifled. That was followed by a war for independence (and a subsequently bankrupt nation-state for a hundred years or so), and then a few more wars (both World Wars and one Civil). Through all those dark times the Greeks continued to tend their vineyards and make wine, but — unlike in France and Italy — it remained a cottage industry.

During the last the last few decades, most of the Greek wine that came into the US was from importers who strictly sold wine to Greek communities and Greek restaurants. The wines imported to the US were of varying quality, and many times were improperly stored (meaning chances were that you’d get a bad bottle more often than not). Importers who were bringing the wines in did very little in the way of scouting for quality; they mainly just picked a few at random and in essence dumped them on the Greek community. It’s not that all Greek wines were bad, but that, coupled with the fact that most Greek wine (about 90%) was sold IN Greece, the wines that made it to the US were, as a rule, not good. Finally, Greek wines have names that are sometimes difficult to pronounce, and due to differing translations, might be mistaken as two different wines … Although many French and Italian wine names — Chateauneuf Du Pape and Aglianico, anybody? — are hard to pronounce too, so this seems to be the easiest of all the stumbling blocks to get over.

Despite all that, in the past couple of years there has been a push from good wineries in Greece for more exports to the US, and that’s been bolstered by a number of producers leading the way in improving vineyard practices and winemaking. Although not all Greek wine can be counted on as great (which pretty much goes for any country), there are a ton of good values out there if you know what to look for.

First, I’ve found that many of my favorites come from a couple great importers who select the wineries in their portfolio with care. They represent the best that Greece has to offer (and of course, store their wines properly). My favorite is Diamond Imports; look for their logo on the back label, and you’ll pretty much be guaranteed a good wine.

Here are my favorite Greek wines:

Domaine Sigalas Assyrtiko 2010 ($22)

This wine converted me. It’s utterly transporting. First a little about the winery: the man who started it began as a home winemaker, and as his hobby grew, turned it into a business which is still family owned, and has pioneered the concept of organic grape growing on Santorini. The grape in this wine, Assyrtiko (pronounced A seer’ tee ko) grows in volcanic soil on steep hillsides of Santorini, surrounded by the Aegean sea. Because there’s no rain during the growing season, the grapes have to survive on sea mist and fog absorbed by the rocks surrounding the vines. Amazing!

This wine is a beautiful gold color and has a nose of insanely fresh grapefruit (like, picked straight off the tree), luscious pear and green apple, and hints of nutty spices and daffodils. On the palate there’s beautiful minerality and a hint of salinity. It’s medium bodied and has a lovely, long finish. I’ve never had a white wine quite like this.

Skouras Moschofilero 2010 ($15)

Considered one of the best winemakers in the Peloponnese, George Skouras has been making wine at his own winery for nearly 20 years. This wine is made from Moschofilero (Mos ko fee’ le ro ), a gray-skinned grape that makes fragrant, high acid wines that some say have the aroma of a rose garden. This wine is pale green-gold and has an explosively fragrant nose of lemon and grapefruit rind and zest, rose petals and wet stone from a spring rain. On the palate, the wine is fresh and bright with plenty of granny smith apple and divine minerality.

Boutari Naoussa 2007 ($15)

This is a bottling from one of the larger producers in Greece. It’s a great value and is one of the more interesting wines I’ve had in a while. The wine is made from 100% Xinomavro (Ksee no’ ma vro) grapes, which are grown in Northern Greece, and are notoriously fickle; it’s often likened to either Pinot Noir or Nebbiolo (the varieties that make up great Burgundy and Barolo wines, respectively) — not a bad comparison. What makes this wine so interesting, besides the fact that it absolutely must be grown and made with so much care, is that its flavor profile is so dramatically different from most red wines I’ve tasted. The wine is pale, like you’d expect from a Pinot Noir, but the nose is full of sun-dried tomatoes, black olives and just a hint of sour cherry and plum. The palate is medium-bodied and earthy, with flavors of licorice, gravel, red apple, and a hint of cedar.

The bottom line: my sommelier friends were right — if you’re bored with the same old Pinots and Chardonnays you always drink and are interested in trying something new and totally different, Greek wines might just knock your socks off. Opa!

Previously: If Anyone Orders Merlot …

Merritt Olson has been selling wine for independent wineries for almost ten years. She also makes wine (and drinks a lot of it, too). Her wine-industry blog is merrittolson.wordpress.com. (And no one’s paying her to recommend any of these.)

Photo by PerseoMedusa, via Shutterstock