When we think of wines from Santorini in Greece, our first thought is almost always the acidic white Assyrtiko.
But did you know the island is also home to delicious red wines, too? Although the holdings of Mavrotragano are quite small, if you ever stumble upon a bottle, like this one from Hatzidakis Winery, grab it right away- you'll really be in for a treat.
Santorini red wines are delicious!
When looking out for new grapes to try, we were excited to stumble upon a bottle or Robola from Kefalonia in Greece from Gentilini Rhombus.
We were expecting a warm climate white wine with this one, and while somewhat riper in fruit characteristics, this one was surprisingly restrained for being Greek- so much so that we had not known any better we would've compared it with a Riesling from the USA or select places in northern Europe!
Greece is a wine-lovers paradise, with many delicious varietals to be found all over the mainland and nearby islands. On the island of Crete you may be lucky to find the Kotsifali grape that has limited exports.
We were lucky enough to find a bottle of Alexakis Kotsifali and Syrah blend (60%/40%), and were rather eager to try out as quickly as possible. A new grape paired with one of our all-time favorites? Something told us we were going to like it. And we did.
While this one is a fair bit lighter by most Greek wine standards, for those who want an easy drinking wine that is both fruit-forward and complex, give this one a go.
Retsina is an interesting style of wine made in Greece that is made in memory of the historic winemaking practice from millennia ago.
Winemaking in early Greece involved sealing amphorae with resin in order to minimize contact with the air. Some of that resin made its way into the wine, and tastes started to like the pine-y flavor that the resin added.
After moving to more traditional winemaking methods, some producers opted to add resin to wine to keep this flavor despite not needing it for production purposes, and modern day Retsina is the result!
I had always wanted to get my hands on a bottle of Retsina to see what it is like, and when I found Papagiannakos Retsina, I knew I had to try it. While not my preferred style, I have to admit, it isn't bad!
It is always interesting when trying a grape from Santorini, if only because the high winds and the volcanic soil of the island seems to do wonders in helping the wines retain higher acidity despite the hot climate.
Aidani is one white grape produced on the island that is somewhat hard to come by, and while Artemis Karamolegos' Aidani comes in at a sufficient price point that may give us a moment to pause for buying another bottle, it is an interesting one all the same.
When it comes to young Greek red wines, one of the things we often struggle with is that they can be rather intense due to the country's incredibly hot climate.
As such, whenever we have a Greek red, we often defer to the thought that they simply need time. A lot of time.
Naturally, while we want to age our own wines at home, finding aged wines in the store can be tricky at the best of times (and even more so for wines from countries that aren't distributed as well near us, like Greece). So when we found Monemvasia Winery's Laloudi with a 2007 vintage Agiorgitiko at a reasonable price, we picked it up right away.
When studying for my WSET Level 3 exam, we knew we had to buy some Greek wine in order to learn more about this new region (which was not featured in Level 2). So we picked up a bottle of Xinomavro from Kir-Yianni and opened it shortly after covering this country in the book.
While we definitely think this bottle is still quite intense in the tannin department (and could age well beyond its five years at the time of opening), it was an interesting one all the same!
When we decided to make a lemon eggplant risotto, it didn't take long for us to settle on the Boutari Moschofilero from Greece. The dish checked a lot of boxes for us as having similar flavor profiles we'd expect to find in Greek food, and the citrus and minerality notes in the wine sounded like they'd go well with the lemon and eggplant respectively.
We were not let down by this one– on its own and with the food.