A trip to Greece, hotspot for rarities

 

We've said it before - not that it needs saying - Greece is one of the world's hotspots for grape varieties. It may even be the fountainhead for grapes found in many parts of Europe. Malvasia, Aglianico, Greco, Grechetto and Falanghina for example. And those are just the Italian ones. The fractured lanscape between mountains, isolated valleys and hundreds of islands was one of the causes of the diversity. There are thought to be around 300 different sorts.

In Athens, we visited this beautiful winemerchant called Mr. Vertigo.

The gentleman in view was in fact Italian but extremely knowledgeable about Greek wine as well as the many wines from all over the world available from this excellent shop. 

Among the Greek and we should say Cypriot rarities we found Yiannoudi (aka Giannoudi). Described as rare and indigenous, grown mostly on the slopes of the Troodos mountaines, Paphos and Limassol in Cyprus. Said to produce structured, aromatic and ageworthy red wines. Once near extinction it has bee revived by the Makarounas winery as above and Vlassides and Vassiliades wineries. Not mentioned in 'Wine Grapes.'

Spourtiko, another Cypriot is indeed covered in 'Wine Grapes' who attest to its light and zesty qualities. There were less than 2 ha in 2008. Now maybe 10 ha.

Morokanella. Please see our previous post in which we hail this delicious white variety from Cyprus as a major discovery. Made as an Orange wine as per this bottle. We're sorry we didn't add it to our haul of wines bought on this Greek trip. 

Volitsa looked promising. A North Pelopponese red aka Volitsa Mavri according to 'Wine Grapes' who also raise a problem with this grape: lack of healthy plant material. We were both lucky and unlucky to find this bottle at Mr. Vertigo. The former because it must be very rare and the latter because the wine is poor.

and Vasilissa. Another Cypriot rediscovery. A white wine grown in the Paphos and Omodos regions, Vasilissa is being revived by the Oenou Yi, Makarounas and Vasilikon wineries. Said to be round and full-bodied with moderate acidity.

At another Athenian wine shop in the Monastiraki district, the staff were as ignorant as those at Mr. Vertigo were well informed. We asked about wine made from rare Greek varieties and drew a blank. So left to our own devices and at times struggling with the Greek alphabet, we found nonetheless

Santameriana. Another rare variety indignous to the area around a village called Santameri in Achaia (Pelopponese). Also known locally as Asprouda of Patron or Asprouda of Patras. Asproda means 'Whitish' by the way and is the generic name given to several distinct white varieties all over Greece. Used as a name for any unidentified light-berried variety. In a country with grape varieties to spare this is understandable if a bit annoying.

Anyway, the story of Santameriana is a gripping tale. After Phylloxera there were only 10 vines left. A heroic grower, Panagiotis Dimitropoulos of the Sant'Or winery in Santameri rescued these remaining 10 vines which his father had planted at the edge of his vineyard and re-planted them at a 600 meter altitude in the foothills of Mount Skolli. There are now 1.5 ha. Orange wine is made of this variety as well as white. Reports tell of an intense and fruity taste with peach, pear, honey and white flowers in the mix.

We also found a Sideritis in this shop. We very much enjoyed our Orange Sideritis bought from Shrine to the Vine in Lambs Conduit Street, London. 

We first discovered the peculiar Messenicola the fabled Lemonia Restaurant in Regents Park Road, London. Lemonia actually has a Cypriot connection rather than Greek but not a lot of people know that. You might have thought their wine list would have had a big selection of Greek or even Cypriot wine but they seem to think their clientele would prefer to drink French wine with their Dolmadakia and Kuneli Stifado. 

So it was quite something to find a Messenicola at one point on their winelist. Messenicola or Messenikola Mavro is found near the Plastira Lake around a village called Messenikola, Karditsa (Thessaly). The name is supposed to come from a certain French/Venetian official known as Monsieur Nicolas who is supposed to have introduced the grape to that region. From where? Who knows? 

Avgoustatis. Not exactly rare - the second most planted grape in the Ionian islands (2008). Deep coloured, soft tannins and good acidity. Avgoustatis means 'of August' denoting early ripening. 

Kidonitsa or Kydonitsa is a white grape from the Peloponnese described in 'Wine Grapes' as "almost forgotten." Brave sould including Yannis Vatistas and George Tsibidis make varietal wines and the Antonopoulos winery have planted it elsewhere on the Pelopponese. Everyone agrees Kidonitsa is promising and the government have given subsidies to plant it but it's proving hard to promote.

Kidoni is Greek for Quince and the wine is said to haev a quince-like taste.  

Savatiano is actually Greece's most widely planted variety full stop. Who knew that? This may be because it is widely used in the making of Retsina. It hails from Central Greece as well as other parts of course. It can make bland, high alcohol, dull wines but in the right hands can be good.

The bottle above looks like a dessert version, so Savatiano is pretty flexible. 

Mavro Moscato of Tyrnavos. We think this is none other than Muscat of Hamburgh which seems to crop up quite a bit in Greece. We came across Rose of Muscat of Hamburgh more than once (see below). This is obviously 'a thing' and very good it is too. 

Not far from there was  the main market of Athens, Not for the faint-hearted, it looked much like it might have done in ancient times. In some corners it certainly smelled like that. You could buy wine there as well as meat and fish.

Retsina. We would have loved to have tasted these wines in 1.5 litre plastic bottles. Just a sip which we are sure would have been interesting. For the unbelievably low prices we could have chucked the rest down the sink but we didn't go there.

Also an interesting shop with rather better fittings and an eclectic range reminding you that we were not far from Romania, Ukraine and Russia:

Odesa Brut and Semi Dry 'champagne'

'Soviet Sparkling'

Armenia and Romanian white.

Armenia and Romania

Muscat of Hamburgh Rose

In another part of town, at the Acropolis Restaurant, that Muscat of Hamburgh rose we've been talking about. 'A thing' because we came across others. Really good. We tried to find out where we could get some but were told the winemaker made it exclusively for them.

Really tasty Kotsifali

 And at the airport, Kotsifali. We had this soon after our return and were very pleasantly surprised. A truly excellent wine. So it was a surprise to read in 'Wine Grapes' that Kotsifali is 'Oft-maligned' and '...it is easy to see why the variety is not treated with great respect...'  

 It is the second most planted variety on Crete and is rarely found outside there. This one by Fragospito was oaked and came in at 13%

'Wine Grapes' published in 2012 says Kotsifali is rarely found outside Crete but Winesearcher has 4 producers (including Lyryrakis) whose Kotsifalis are offered by many online and retail shops here. Perhaps this is a sign that the world is coming around to Kotsifali? it should.

We were only in Greece a short time but look what we found! This is truly an amazing country for wine grape diversity.