Considering its surface

– 70, 000 hectares in a country of 131,944 sq. km out of which 28,890 sq. km are islands – the vineyards of Greece offer a rich palette of wine-making grape varieties. Approximately 2, 500 producers are currently active in the Greek wine industry. Their efforts have resulted in serious infrastructural improvements and the production of remarkable wines.

Wine has always been predominant in Greek history. Since ancient times, it has played a major role in the civilization and philosophy of Ancient Greeks. It was

much more than just a drink; it was the core of almost all rituals and festivities, a hymn to life itself. Wine has been respected as a treasure and was the means for the establishment of communication between people, cities, countries, kings and emperors, between gods and mortals. Over time, wine has always been associated with the capability of lifting human everyday life out of the ordinary, in an effort to bind it to the divine.

Let us explore the main varieties that characterize the Hellenic vineyard. Some of these varieties have been cultivated systematically, over centuries, in the Greek land; these indigenous varieties are a treasure trove for both producers and consumers. Realistically, we can say that there exist around 200 indigenous wine varieties in Greece. Fifty of them are used in a large scale production and less than thirty are known to connoisseurs. Of course, international grape varieties have been ‘imported’ from abroad, mainly France, and have been successfully incorporated in the Greek terroir.

RED VARIETIES
A. Indigenous red varieties
AGIORGITIKO
Agiorgitiko (meaning “St Georges’s”) is a variety that may be considered the most appealing in terms of international recognition. Agiorgitiko is characterized as a multidynamic variety by Greek wine makers, due to its amazing ability to produce a large spectrum of wine styles: exciting “nouveau” wines, fresh “rosés”, soft reds and finally tannic, concentrated quality reds worthy of ageing.

The color of the wine is deep, the nose has aromas of red fruits and sweet spices, there is an excellent affinity with new oak. It is mainly cultivated in the Nemea OPAP (Appellation of Origin of Superior Quality), as well as in the Peloponnese and Attica.

XINOMAVRO
Xinomavro (meaning acid black) can be viewed as the exact opposite of Agiorgitiko. It is difficult to cultivate; it needs light soils and sites with high water retention capacities. Moreover, it is sensitive to potassium deficiency, this fact being reflected in extremely high levels of acidity in the grape (exceeding 7,5 gr/lt). It is the predominant grape variety in Macedonia, the northernmost grape growing area of Greece. As with Agiorgitiko, Xinomavro is a multidymanic variety: it can produce the amazing rosés of Amyntaio OPAP in Florina. Macedonia, which can be dry, medium-dry, medium-sweet or still. The second OPAP is Naoussa. The third OPAP is Goumenissa in central Macedonia, where Xinomavro is blended
with Negoska. The fourth OPAP is Rapsani in Thessaly (Central Greece), the only non-Macedonian OPAP. Xinomavro can produce wines with amazing depth, complexity and character, also having a great ageing potential with rich tannic character. The nose has tomato and dried plums. It is often compared with Nebbiolo, due to the similarity in tannic structure and the absence of sweet and fresh elements in its aromatic palate.