Greek Wine: The Native Grapes and Regions Worth Tasting
Greece has been making wine for at least four thousand years, yet for a long time visitors left with the impression that it meant a carafe of something cold and anonymous at a seaside taverna. That picture is badly out of date. Greek winemakers today work with hundreds of native grape varieties, many of which grow almost nowhere else, and the best bottles can stand beside anything from France or Italy. If you enjoy wine, Greece is one of the most rewarding countries in Europe to drink your way through.
The fun is in the names. Instead of Chardonnay and Merlot, you will meet Assyrtiko, Agiorgitiko, Xinomavro and Moschofilero, each tied to a particular island or mountain slope. This guide walks through the grapes worth knowing, the regions they come from, and how to order and taste wine like a local, whether you are visiting a winery or simply sitting down to dinner.
What makes Greek wine different
Most of the country is hot and dry, but the vineyards are not where you might expect. Many sit high on mountain plateaus or on windy islands, where cool nights and sea breezes keep the grapes fresh. The result is wine with lively acidity, which is exactly what you want next to olive oil, lemon, grilled fish and salty cheese.
The other difference is the grapes themselves. Over the centuries, isolated valleys and islands developed their own varieties, and many of them survived because Greek growers never ripped them out for international favourites. When you order a local bottle, you are often tasting something that has grown in the same soil since antiquity.
Santorini and its volcanic Assyrtiko
If you only try one Greek wine, make it an Assyrtiko from Santorini. The island's vines grow in volcanic ash and pumice, with almost no rain in summer, and the wine that comes out of them is bone dry, mineral and salty, with a sharp citrus edge. It ages surprisingly well and goes with almost any seafood.
Walk through a vineyard here and you will not see neat rows. The vines are woven into low baskets called kouloura, which sit close to the ground and protect the grapes from the strong summer winds and the burning sun. Because the root louse phylloxera never took hold in Santorini's sandy soil, the vines were never replanted, and some of the root systems are said to be centuries old.
Look out too for Vinsanto, a sweet wine made from grapes dried in the sun before pressing and then aged for years in barrel, and for Nykteri, an oaked white whose name recalls the old habit of working the harvest at night to escape the heat. With a glass of Assyrtiko, order the island's yellow split pea fava and crispy domatokeftedes, the tomato fritters made from Santorini's small, sweet cherry tomatoes.
The wineries are spread across the southern half of the island, around Megalochori, Pyrgos and Akrotiri, and many have terraces looking straight out over the caldera. These inland villages, with their vaulted cellars and blue domed chapels among the vines, are the quieter side of Santorini that many day visitors never see. The island is an easy hop from Piraeus, and in summer it pays to book ferry tickets well ahead.
Something I would highly recommend is a guided wine tour rather than driving yourself. Santorini's roads are narrow and busy, tastings add up quickly, and a good guide will take you to a mix of family estates and larger cellars, explain the kouloura vines in the field and time the last stop for sunset. One I highly recommend is the Small-Group Santorini Wine Tasting and Vineyard Tour, and you can check availability on its page.
Nemea and the Agiorgitiko grape
About an hour and a half from Athens in the northeastern Peloponnese, Nemea is the largest red wine region in Greece and the home of Agiorgitiko, the grape of Saint George. It makes soft, juicy reds full of plum and cherry, easy to enjoy young, while the best bottles from the higher slopes have more structure and age beautifully. Local legend says the wine is coloured by the blood of the lion Hercules killed here, and you will hear the story at every cellar door.
Nemea is a lovely place to spend a day. The valley is ringed by vineyards and low hills, and the ancient site of Nemea, with its temple of Zeus and the stadium where the Nemean Games were held, sits right among the vines. A glass of Agiorgitiko goes perfectly with slow roasted lamb kleftiko.
Mantinia and Moschofilero
Further south, on a high plateau near Tripoli in Arcadia, the vineyards of Mantinia grow Moschofilero, a pink skinned grape that makes delicate, perfumed whites. Expect rose petals, lemon blossom and a crisp, light finish, with alcohol often lower than you might expect from a southern country. It is a wonderful aperitif on a warm evening and a good match for salads, vegetables and light fish dishes. Some producers also make a pale rosé and a sparkling version from the same grape.
Naoussa, Amyntaio and Xinomavro
In Macedonia, in northern Greece, the star grape is Xinomavro, whose name means sour black. On the slopes of Mount Vermio around Naoussa, about an hour west of Thessaloniki, it makes serious reds with firm tannins, bright acidity and flavours of sour cherry, tomato, olive and dried herbs. Wine lovers often compare it to Nebbiolo from Piedmont, and good bottles can age for decades.
Higher up and further west, near the lakes of Florina, Amyntaio is one of the coolest wine regions in the country, and its Xinomavro is lighter, often turned into rosé or sparkling wine. Northern Greece is also where Malagousia, an aromatic white with notes of peach and jasmine, was rescued from near extinction by a handful of growers in the last decades of the twentieth century. Pour a Xinomavro with a rich beef stifado on a cold evening and you will understand why the north takes its red wine so seriously.
Crete, the oldest wine island
Wine on Crete goes back to the Minoans, and an ancient wine press can still be seen at the Minoan villa of Vathypetro, near Archanes, south of Heraklion. The island has its own set of grapes: Vidiano, a full, aromatic white with apricot and herbs, and the reds Liatiko, Kotsifali and Mandilaria. The main areas to explore are Peza and Archanes in the hills south of Heraklion, and Sitia in the far east. A chilled Vidiano with a plate of dakos, the Cretan barley rusk topped with tomato and cheese, is one of the great simple pleasures of the island.
Sweet wines of Samos and Patras
Greece has a long tradition of sweet wines, and two are worth seeking out. On Samos, Muscat grapes grow on steep terraces climbing the mountainsides, and the island's golden dessert wines are rich with honey, apricot and orange peel. In Patras, Mavrodaphne is a dark, fortified sweet red with notes of raisin, coffee and chocolate. Either one is a fine way to end a meal, especially next to a piece of baklava.
Retsina deserves a second look
Retsina has a bad reputation, mostly earned by the cheap bottles of decades past. The wine is flavoured with a little Aleppo pine resin, a custom that goes back to when ancient Greeks sealed their amphorae with resin. Today a new wave of producers, many of them on the plain east of Athens where the Savatiano grape grows, make fresh, subtle retsinas with a gentle pine scent. Served very cold with fried fish, olives and a bowl of taramosalata, it suddenly makes perfect sense.
Greek grapes do not stop at wine, either. The skins and seeds left after pressing are distilled into tsipouro, a clear, strong spirit served in small glasses with meze, and every autumn after the harvest, villages across the mainland fire up their copper stills and turn the occasion into a party.
Ordering wine in a taverna
In a traditional taverna, the cheapest and often most enjoyable choice is the house wine, known as chima, which means loose. It comes from a barrel rather than a bottle and is sold by weight: a kilo, a half kilo or a quarter, served in a copper jug or a glass carafe. Ask for aspro for white, kokkino for red or roze for rosé. Quality varies, but in wine regions the house wine is often made by the owner's family or a neighbour, and it can be excellent.
If you want to try a particular grape, ask for the wine list and look for the names in this guide. Restaurants in Greece usually price local bottles fairly, and staff are generally happy to suggest something from the area. When the glasses are full, raise them and say yia mas, to our health.
Pairing wine with Greek food
Greek food is built around olive oil, lemon, herbs and grilled meat or fish, and the high acidity of most Greek wines suits it perfectly. Bright whites like Assyrtiko and Moschofilero love seafood, salads and anything fried, and an Assyrtiko next to grilled octopus is a classic island pairing. Softer reds like Agiorgitiko suit tomato based dishes and roast lamb, while the bigger reds from Naoussa need slow cooked meat and strong cheese. When in doubt, drink what grows nearby: local wine and local food grew up together.
Tips for visiting wineries
Book ahead. Many estates welcome visitors, but smaller family wineries often work by appointment, especially outside the summer months.
Do not drive between tastings. Choose a guided tour, hire a driver for the day or pick a base within walking distance of a few cellars.
Go during the harvest. The grape harvest, called trygos, runs from late August into October, and it is a busy, joyful time to visit.
Carry bottles home carefully. Wrap them in clothes inside your checked luggage, and check the allowance for your destination if you are flying outside the EU.
Ask about local grapes. Winemakers love talking about their native varieties, and you may get to taste rare wines that never leave the island or the valley.
Greek wine rewards curiosity. Order the bottle with the name you cannot pronounce, ask the taverna owner where the house wine comes from, and let each region show you a different side of the country, one glass at a time.
Photo: Norbert Nagel, CC BY-SA 3.0
