Greece wine tours are expert-led trips through the wine regions of the mainland and the islands. The topics are Greek wine and its appellation labels, plus three grapes: Xinomavro, Moschofilero and Savatiano. Four short answers then turn to Malagousia, Rhoditis, Debina and Lagorthi. Related pages are Greece tour packages and Greece small group tours. These wine trips form one part of the wider range of Greece tours.
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What are Greece wine tours?
Greece wine tours are trips with a host across the Greek mainland and its islands. Greece is among the world’s oldest wine-producing lands. The country also holds the earliest evidence of crushed grapes found anywhere in the world.
Archaeologists in Greece have found the second oldest known remnants of grape wine in the world. A remnant is a small trace that survives from something far older. The earliest Greek wine was made by single households or by whole communities. Greece wine tours take place today in this land of very early winemaking.
Greece planted its very first vineyard of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes in 1963. A vineyard is planted land given over to grapevines in long rows. During the 1960s, retsina suddenly became the national drink of Greece. A national drink is one that people across a whole country treat as their own.
Greece sorts its wines into categories under an appellation system. An appellation ties a wine’s name to a set area of production. PDO wines carry an origin label that marks superior quality. PGI wines form another group, labelled as quality wines of a named origin. Greece wine tours take place across these labelled regions.
- Table wine: Epitrapezios Oinos is everyday table wine, sold in screw-top containers as a rule.
- Cava: This label goes on more prestigious reserve blends that have been aged.
- Thessaly: The appellations of this region are Nea Anchialos, Rapsani and Messenikola.
Greece introduced its appellation system to assure buyers about where each bottle of wine comes from. Origin in this sense means the place where the grapes grew and ripened. Greece wine tours take place in the regions that these origin labels name.
Why does Xinomavro matter on Greece wine tours?
Greece wine tours in Macedonia happen in the home territory of Xinomavro. This grape is the leading red variety of the Naousa uplands in Imathia. It holds the same role around Amyntaio. Its Greek name means “sour black”.
Uplands are stretches of high, hilly ground. Growers cultivate Xinomavro mainly in Siatista, Velventos, Trikomo, Rapsani, Goumenissa, Amyntaio and Naousa. In 2010 the grape covered 1,971 hectares, and every one of them lay inside Greece. A hectare is a square of land 100 metres long on each side. Greece wine tours take place in this northern grape country.
By 2013 the area had grown to 2,239 hectares worldwide. Its first plantings abroad stood in Gansu, China. The Naousa Protected Designation of Origin dates from 1971. Its rules demand that the wine use 100% Xinomavro grapes. Such a designation links a wine name to one legally defined area.
Good bottles of Xinomavro age well because the wine is high in acidity and tannin. Tannin is a natural compound in wine that makes the mouth feel dry. In the mouth the wine recalls tomatoes and olives, with a rich tannic character. Greece wine tours across northern Greece take place in this red-wine country.
- Goumenissa: Here growers blend the grape with Negoska to make very fruity, high-alcohol wines.
- Standing: Red Naousa Xinomavro ranks among the leading and well-regarded wines of Greece.
- Research: Scientists have studied the artificial ageing of red Xinomavro wines in recent years.
Across Macedonia, Xinomavro is the predominant grape variety, and its heartland centres on the town of Naousa. Predominant means stronger or more widespread than any rival. Greece wine tours in the north take place in the home country of this grape.
Which aromas does Moschofilero bring to Greece wine tours?
Greece wine tours in the Peloponnese share their region with Moschofilero, an aromatic white grape of Greek origin. Aromatic means strongly scented. Its skin is pink to purple. The grape gives a quite spicy flavour, backed by good acidity.
The grape grows across a large part of Greece, yet its main home is the Peloponnese. There, makers traditionally turn it into a dry, bold wine full of spice and perfume. A dry wine is one with little or no sweetness left in it. Greece wine tours in the Peloponnese take place in its main growing area.
Its bouquet carries the character of a “rose garden”. A bouquet is the scent that rises from a glass of wine. Moschofilero is a common partner for fresh fruit or for desserts made from fruit. Its wines can show traits close to those of Muscat, a different grape variety.
Moschofilero makes still, sparkling and dessert wines. Still wine has no bubbles, while sparkling wine fizzes with them. The grape ripens late and can have trouble in hot weather. To ripen is to grow fully sweet and ready for picking. Greece wine tours share the Peloponnese with the growers of this late grape.
- Mantineia: Its PDO blanc de gris wines, white wines from a pink-skinned grape, require Moschofilero.
- Other names: The grape also goes by Fileri Tripoleos, Moschophilero and Mosxofilero.
- Family: Its Filéri family of grapes also includes white and black Filéri kinds.
Greece wine tours in Arcadia take place near Mantineia, the AOC region of this grape. AOC marks a wine area whose name is protected by law. Arcadia itself forms part of the Peloponnese. Moschofilero wines taste crisp and floral, whether still or sparkling.
How does Savatiano fit into Greece wine tours?
Greece wine tours share their country with Savatiano, a white Greek grape. It ranks among the widest-planted grape varieties in Greece. Savatiano is known for its resistance to drought. Drought is a long spell with too little rain.
Outside Attica, Savatiano is also found on Euboea. It grows as well in the Bulgarian town of Pomorie. That town was once a Greek colony known as Anchialos. Greek colonies were new towns that Greek settlers set up abroad. Greece wine tours take place in the homeland of this white grape.
In Attica, Assyrtiko is the commonest blending partner for Savatiano. On Euboea and in Pomorie, Rhoditis takes that role instead. Blending means mixing wines from different grapes into one. Today the commonest use of Rhoditis is in retsina, blended with Savatiano. Retsina is a Greek wine with a taste of pine resin.
Cold fermentation brings out a clear floral and fruity scent in Savatiano. Fermentation is the process in which yeast turns grape sugar into alcohol. Fermented without cooling, the grape gives retsina or rustic wines made without resin. These wines go well with Mediterranean dishes. Greece wine tours take place in a country where both styles are made.
- Other names: Savatiano also goes by Savvathiano, Perachoritis, Sakeiko and Dombrena Aspri.
- Heartland: The grape is planted chiefly across central Greece, above all in Attica near Athens.
- Main use: Savatiano is a white Greek grape used chiefly in the making of retsina.
The grape’s natural acidity is low. In retsina, winemakers sometimes balance this by adding Assyrtiko and Rhoditis. Acidity gives wine its fresh, sharp edge on the tongue. Greece wine tours take place in the land where these white blends are made.
What do travellers ask about Greece wine tours, and what are the answers?
Greece wine tours take place where Malagousia, Rhoditis, Debina and Lagorthi grow. Malagousia is a grape that came close to extinction. Rhoditis, a grape with pink skin, belongs to the Peloponnese. Debina grows in the Zitsa region of Epirus. Lagorthi is famed despite a small planting.
Before Greece wine tours, who brought Malagousia back?
Professor Vassilis Logothetis, a teacher of oenology, found the grape again in Nafpaktia. Oenology is the science of wine and winemaking. In the 1970s he handed it to one of his students, Vangelis Gerovassiliou. The grape is highly aromatic and can give soft, elegant wines. Aromatic here means rich in scent.
What made Rhoditis prized, for Greece wine tours?
Before the phylloxera outbreak, Rhoditis was highly valued. It ripened late yet kept its acidity in hot climates. Phylloxera is a root pest of vines, and powdery mildew is a fungal disease. Both cut its plantings during the 20th century. In Patras it is the main grape of the perfumed wines named after the city.
On Greece wine tours in Epirus, what is Debina?
Debina is a white grape of both Albania and Greece. In Albania it grows chiefly in the Përmet region. Its high acidity lends itself well to making sparkling wine. Sparkling wine is wine that holds fine bubbles of gas. The grape also goes by the names Dempina, Ntempina and Zitsa.
Why does Lagorthi stand out on Greece wine tours?
Lagorthi gives a moderately aromatic wine, fairly low in fruit and alcohol. It grows mainly in the northern Peloponnese and on certain Ionian Islands. The vine is sensitive to water stress, meaning harm from too little water. Unusually, its grapes can ripen fully even when their sugar stays low.