Greek wine for dummies

For a long time the Greek people kept their wine for themselves. While other countries were exporting their national pride, Greek wine was explicitly for the Greek population. While we would’ve done the same, the Greek wine cannot be named in the same line of great wine countries as France, Italy and Spain. Luckily for us, the Greek wine is making her way up. It’s time for a small lecture in Greek wine.

The history of Greek wine

During a sunny day a long time ago, a demigod named Dionysos planted world’s first vine. The juice of this vine was being used to produce nectar which everyone immediately loved.

Scientific evidence suggests that this estimated 4000 years ago. Greece than lay a foundation down for what now is called the wine culture in Europe. The different grapes spread, and knowledge spread around the Mediterranean Sea and even ended up in Germany. Greece was the master of wine for thousands of centuries. In the middle ages this slightly changed, France and Italy were competing with Greece after they learned of their technique.

When Greece was invaded in the late fifteenth centuries by the Ottoman Empire, it was over with Greece’s market leadership. Take in account the multiple occupations, the many wars and the outbreak of grape louse and you’ll understand that Greece had other pressing matters.

Eventually Greece revived wine making around 1950. The last thirty years this expanded a lot. A new generation of proud Greek young people wanted to reinstate Greece as the leader in winemaking. Some of them left Greece to study Oenology, the art of making wine at the finest universities in the world. When they came back, they brought knowledge, technology, and experience back to create compete vineyards.

In 2020 the Greek are back at the top. With wines that deliver excellent quality and strong character.

Why drink Greek wine?

Now that we know the wine is from excellent quality, what separates us from drinking it? That’s because very few countries import Greek wine. While it is a small detail, there’s also the name of the vines. The names of Greek vines are a bit complicated. Chardonnay sounds sexier than Agiorgitiko. Unknown means unloved.

We at The Best Greek Wines would love to see you try out the taste of Greece. The Greek vineyards host approximately 300 native vines. Vines like agiorgitiko, assyrtiko en malagouisa appear only in this region in the world. Besides that, Greece has numerous microclimates. Between two different vineyards there could be a short number of meters, but a very big difference compared to their individual climates. It makes the different wines unique. That’s also the reason many of those wines make it to the top spots in wine competitions.

The vineyard of Gaia is located near volcano ground in Santorini. This vineyard delivers wines the likes of which have never been seen before.

Famous vines like the merlot and chardonnay also love the Greek sun. The climate, location and the soil combined produces a different taste than when planted in Italian or French soil. Take for instance this Biblia Chora. This blend has the freshness of the sauvignon blanc but through mixing it with the assyrtiko it also gets a lot of minerals and citrus flavors. A very good example of, as we at Proef Griekenland call it: ‘The Best of Both Worlds’. Do you want to learn more about Greek vines? Click here.

Why order Greek wine?

Why is Greek wine priced higher than what is normal? That’s a question we get a lot. You want to know the simplest answer? It’s because the Greek people do everything to let the world meet their greatest assets. The modern (often biological) vineyards where there is being manually picked and matured in french oak barrels. Quality over quantity. The oenologists have laid the bar high. And that is what you will taste. Sloppy wines are not common anymore for the Greek people. Believe me: Every wine in our webshop is worth tasting once! 

Get the holiday feeling!

I could tell you about Greek wine for hours. I’d love to. But you will discover most of it yourself by tasting it. Order for example one of our sample packages and enjoy Greece its hotshots from all over the country. A tip from myself: the white Seméli Aetheria and the red Skouras Cuvee Prestige are two of my personal favorites. Vacation in a bottle!

Cheers and hopefully after one sip you will love Greek wine as much as we do. I’d love to hear from your experiences, please feel free to describe them on our Facebook Page or Instagram

Sander  

DEEL JOUW LIJST