Greeks make the earth move

Apr 11 2008 by Helen Savage, The Journal

I WAS ready to be impressed, but the earth really did move for me when I went to Greece a fortnight ago to visit vineyards in the western Peloponnese and the biennial national Greek wine fair – Oenorama – in Athens.

An earthquake all but tipped me out of bed!

Although the ancient Greeks introduced a love of wine to much of Europe, the modern Greek wine industry is only a couple of generations old and winemakers there have had a lot to learn in just a few years.

When Greece joined the European Community in 1981, wine estates gained access to invaluable subsidies that enabled many of them to buy equipment to make better wine. Although many still rely too heavily on bulk sales of low quality wine to the Greek domestic market and to export to Germany, a significant number have now succeeded in crafting top-class, elegant, characterful wines.

Almost all of the best wines are made from indigenous Greek grape varieties. Vassilis Kanellakopoulos, who owns the Mercouri Estate near Pyrgos, one of western Greece’s oldest working wineries, told me: "The challenge for us is to cut the quantity of the wine we make and go instead for quality. It’s the only way to survive. We have over 300 Greek grape varieties. These must be a weapon for us in the export war."

British-born Anne Kokolos does not share, as far I know, Mr Kanella- kopoulos’s passion for Newcastle Brown Ale, but agrees wholeheartedly with his analysis of the problems and opportunities that face the Greek wine producers. "I’m definitely for local varieties," she insists.

Anne and her husband George run the impressive Semeli Estate, which has three wineries in the northern Peloponnese. "The Greek wine scene is vibrant and we’ve invested a lot in equipment, but we now need to work at improving our vineyards. We need to monitor ripening carefully and avoid over-cropping. The best sites are at high altitude (up to 1,000 metres above sea level) but they have to be worked by hand and that means higher costs." The hot climate and lack of rainfall also presents quite a challenge. Last year temperatures in Athens soared to 46C. Not only was it the hottest summer since 1863, but forest fires devastated much of the Peloponnese. One winery was destroyed and many others made smoke-tainted wine. I tried some and was not impressed.

Another leading winemaker, Yiannis Tselepos, told me: "We’re allowed to use drip irrigation to keep the vines alive and to stop them becoming too stressed, but we don’t have enough water."

It seems that Greek winemakers thrive on battling with such challenges. The quality of dry white wines is sometimes remarkably good from wonderfully characterful local grapes such as Assyrtiko (especially from the extraordinary volcanic soils of the island of Santorini – try my wine of the week), Malagousia, Athiri, Robola and the pink-tinged Moschofilero and Roditis (both usually vinified as white wines).

Stunning sweet wines are made from Muscat as well as the black Mavrodaphne and a host of other black varieties are very promising. The best known is Agiorgitiko, (alias St George), which makes some excellent wine from vines grown on the steep slopes of the mountains of Nemea just south of Corinth. The northern grape Xinomavro is also very good.

Other high quality old varieties are being rediscovered almost every year, mostly thanks to the work of individual grape growers who are convinced that Greece’s rich heritage of grapes has many more surprises to offer.

For example, the pioneering wine scientist Vassilis Tsaktsarlis told me about a red variety that he’s trialling at the splendid organic vineyard of Biblia Chora in the north of Greece. He found it growing on an old pergola. He thinks that it should make soft, cherry-flavoured wine.

Greece can be confusing – the average holding is around just two hectares and the vineyards are scattered here there and everywhere on mountains, islands and flat lands near the coast – but the wines are well worth getting to know.