Greek Wine

Expert Review - Vintage 2023

Decanter 89 Points | Expressive nose with elegan aromas of jasmine, citrus blossom and kiwi. Very elegant, light and crisp. (Bronze) - DWWA 2024.

Winemaker Description 

Fermented in stainless steel vats. Short skin contact, no malolactic fermentation and short aging over fine lees. Flowery, crisp acidity, intense on aromas and flavors in the nose and mouth. White flowers, soft and fresh, honeysuckle, violets, rose petals, crisp acidity. Winemaker Description. 

Producer Description 

100% Xinomavro sourced from Amyndeon, across the mountains from Kir-Yianni’s home base of Naoussa and a historical source for high-acid grapes for rosé. 

This is fermented to an irresistible 17 grams or so per liter of residual sugar before a Charmat-method secondary fermentation that comes out to a creamy 3.5 atmospheres of pressure.

Winemaker Description

The color is bright, deep morello cherry-red. The nose reveals aromas of blackberries, raspberries and ripe strawberries with just a touch of tobacco and spices such as clove and cinnamon. It is a medium-bodied wine with elegant structure, balanced acidity and very ripe, elegant tannins. The finish is moderately-long, dominated by red fruits and followed by sweet vanilla and black pepper. 

Expert Review

89 Points Wine Enthusiast | Clove, thyme and dried fennel aromas complement fruity black-cherry notes on the nose of this Agiorgitiko from Skouras, a 1986 winery in the Nemea region of Greece’s Peloponnese. The light-bodied palate has ripe red and black fruits plus faint cinnamon flavors, indicative of the winemaking process: This wine is fermented in stainless steel and aged in old French barriques for a year. It then sits six more months in the bottle before release. The results are easy drinking and enjoyable, with balanced fruit and acid followed by velvety tannins on the long finish.

Winemaker Description 

Grapes from our vineyards but also from associated growers. This particular variety covers less than 2% of the Santorini vineyards.

Typical red vinification with skin contact for 7 days. oak Maturation in barrels for 18 months and reductive aging in stainless steel tanks for 6 months. Bottled unfiltered.

Intense red color with bright hues. Red forest fruit aromas, bitter chocolate, tobacco, and minerality. A muscular palate with a tannic character and long aftertaste.  Served at 16-18 ° c with red spicy meats, casseroles, as well as mature full-fat cheese.

Producer Description 

The style of the wines being made by Mittas is broadly traditional. Low-intervention farming (the vineyards are now fully converted and licensed as organic) and wine making are the general rule. Tannin management incorporates only periodic—twice daily—manual punchdowns and 500-liter French oak barrels while the fruit, acidity, and alcohol levels are reminiscent of Naoussa wines from 40 years ago. Mittas’s wines reward on release and don’t necessarily need long aging because of their elegant nature.

The grapes for this bottling undergo 15 days of skin contact, with twice-daily pump-overs. The wine is aged for a year in French oak barrels, 25% first use, and then for an additional year in bottle. On the nose, the wine shows red and dark fruit, plum, and spice notes. The wine is medium bodied, and the tannins are well integrated with the fruit. The wine opens beautifully with a bit of time in a decanter. Enjoy it with your favorite lamb dish.

"Oenos Mittas is owned and operated by Yiannis Mittas. Yiannis' family is one of the oldest in the northern Greek region of Naoussa, and while his family has been in the wine industry for generations, Yiannis is the first in his family to make and bottle his own wine. After graduating with a degree agricultural technology, he purchased a 1.8 hectare plot in the famous Paliokalias vineyard — considered one of the best Crus in Naoussa — in 2018. Planted in 1971, Yiannis' Xinomavro vines (average age of 25 years) are planted in soils of clayey-limestone with some sand; the vineyard is in the process of organic conversion. Winemaking is traditional and minimal intervention is used in both the vineyard and the cellar.

The Oenos Mittas Xinomavro is aged for one year in French oak (25% new), followed by one year in bottle. The wine displays a deep ruby red in the glass, offering aromas of dark berry and stone fruits mixed with notes of cedar, licorice and tapenade. The palate is medium-bodied and elegant, exhibiting flavors of red plum, macerated black cherries and blackberry with notes of earth and leather. There is just the right amount of acidity that interplays with this Xinomavro's moderate, yet approachable tannic structure. The finish is pleasing and persistent. This is an ideal pairing for any lamb dishes... from traditional gyros to kebabs, rack of lamb to hearty stews."

Producer Description 

Soft yellow colour with golden shades and delicate aromas of citrus, white flowers and minerality. Full and aromatic on the palate with an intensive mineral character. Long aftertaste with a certain freshness coming from the crunching acidity of the wine.

Santorini Familia Hatzidakis Winery is an emotional Greek wine that marks the transition of the winery to the hands of the children and the family of the late Haridimos. Some of the best, ungrafted vines give the best fruit, for a classic and beloved Santorini!

Haridimos Hatzidakis was a charismatic creator. He was a creator and not just a winemaker because his wines were works of art that generated feelings and made even better memories. Hatzidakis made wines of minor interventions, with indigenous yeasts and from ungrafted vines long before it became a trend! The gap he left, as well as his legacy, is huge. All family members joined forces to continue his work, bottling their love in Santorini Familia Hatzidakis Winery.

Selected 15 - 80-year-old vines of Assyrtiko in Pyrgos give their super-concentrated, precious Prod. The harvest is done manually and the wine fermented with indigenous yeasts, in stainless steel tanks. It matured for 6 months and then it was bottled unfiltered.

Winemaker Description

Bright purple-red color. Complex, typical bouquet of small berries red fruits, leather and spices (vanilla, pepper, clove), with hints of ripe blackberry. Full mouth, rounded tannins, balanced acidity and well integrated wood tones. Long aftertaste with intense quince aroma.

Expert Reviews

Decanter 95 Points | Gorgeous aromatics of pot pourri, wild strawberry and red cherry. Vibrant and bright with well-managed tannins, plenty of juicy and crunchy fruit and refreshing acidity. (2019).

Wine & Spirits 92 Points | This has more to it than its super-friendly face initially lets on. Give it some air and flavors emerge from under that bright cherry-red fruit—some of xinomavro’s telltale tomato-leaf and lamb-fat notes, carried on a fine burr of tannins. Inviting and complex. (2019).

Winemaker Description

Magoutes Vineyard is located at 800 metres above sea level in the inhospitable region of Siatista in Macedonia. The rosé is a blend of 80% Xinomavro and 20% of the über rare Moschomavro (meaning black Muscat), grown almost exclusively by Dimitri Diamantis.

This is a classic case of the vineyard holding sway over the wine making, thanks to Dimitri's very low intervention methods. Spontaneous fermentation, racking off skins and then left in old barrels to finish.

Delicate, partridge eye colour, subtly aromatic bouquet with hints of redcurrants and fraises de bois, the flavours are wonderfully fruity within a structured core of zingy acidity. 

Winemaker Description

Fragrant aromas of fresh red fruits, herbs and an elegant vegetal character. Crisp acidity balances the richness of the body. The aftertaste is complex and long. 

Winemaker Description

Domaine Zafeirakis’s 12 ha (30 acres) of vines are planted in Tyrnavos, in the foothills of Mount Olympos (seen in the image below) in Thessaly in the east of central mainland Greece. The winery is marked near the town of Larissa on this World Atlas of Wine map of Greece. This is a perfect spot for Limniona, a thick-skinned and high-acid grape which loves hot days and cool nights.

Expert Review

Jancis Robinson states as follows: The 50 Great Greek Wines. Zafeirakis Limniona 2019 was one of my favourite reds in the selection I tasted. It was already showing some signs of the interactions that happen between the many components in a wine when it ages in bottle (in those wines not made for immediate consumption), so that while all that lovely dark and dark-red fruit and the gentle spice notes provide delicious intensity and freshness – more blackberry and cherry than blackcurrant or strawberry – there’s now also the first signs of complexity, flavours that are much harder to describe because they are so special to high-quality, maturing red wine. 
The tannins are starting to soften though not yet silky, and while there is no rush to drink this, it is perfect now: a tantalising array of aromas and flavours to capture your attention even if you have indulged in a late-December flavour-fest or have opened one or two expensive bottles saved for special occasions. The last two lines in my tasting note read: ‘A sophisticated wine that still packs a punch. Seriously moreish.

Winemaker Description

Deep crimson color, refreshing scent of red fruit, a bouquet of finely blended aromas, tannins, and acidity. 

Winemaker Description 

Pale lemon color. On the nose, citrus, tropical and flower blossom notes. Flavors of citrus fruits, peach and mango while emerging hints of white flowers.

Pairs with fish, sea-food, salads, white meat, and fruits.