The wines of North Greece

The North Greece wine region has a highly favorable environment for growing high quality grapes and producing similarly endowed wines but may be offsetting these advantages through the sheer number of different wines produced.

The 11 wineries we visited during our tour of the region produce approximately 118 different wines, an average of 10.7 wines/producer. Kir-Yianni is top of the heap with 22 wines and Kitvrs the smallest with four wines. The distribution of wines by type is shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Wine production by type

Style	Number of Wines
White	40
Red	59
Rosé	8
Sparkling	3
Sweet	3

The chart below shows the appellation system guiding wine production and labeling in Greece. Directly below the chart, Table 2 documents the appellation zones under which the North Greece wines encountered fall.

Table 2. Wine production by appellation zone

PDO Zone	Number of Wines	PGI Zone	Number of Wines	Appellation by Tradition	Number of Wines	Other	Number of Wines
Naoussa	11	Macedonia (R)	16	Retsina	3	Other	2
Amyndeon	5	Pangeon (A)	11
Slopes of Meliton	5	Epanomi (A)	10
Rapsani	3	Imathia (D)	10
Goumenissa	2	Halkidiki (D)	7
		Drama (D)	7
		Mount Athos (A)	5
		Sithonia (A)	4
		Pieria (D)	4
		Metsovo (A)	3

The PGI wines in the table are differentiated by the letters R (regional classification), D (district classification -- grapes must be grown in the district and vinified in the district or a neighboring district), and A (area classification -- designated geographic area within a district or contiguous area of two districts with specific variety and wine production requirements). In the event that a producer cannot meet the area or district PGI requirements, the PGI Macedonia designation is available as a fallback. As shown in the table, this is the most frequently utilized of the available appellation options.

The distribution of wines by type is shown in Table 3 below. The table shows that, for both the white and red wines, almost as many blends are produced as are single-variety wines. And, as Table 4 below shows, there is very little agreement among the winemakers of the region as to the most appropriate blends. As a matter of fact, and as pointed out by Stellios Boutaris of Kir-Yianni, this is very much a brand-driven market environment; the focus, therefore would be more on differentiation than on regional profile.

Two other observations made by Stellios Boutaris (and borne out by my observations) were that (i) Greeks love Sauvignon Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc blends and (ii) the North Greece white wines are much better than the reds. As regards the former, and if we assume that wine production reflects market demand, four of the wines encountered were 100% Sauvignon Blancs, five were Assyrtiko/Sauvignon Blanc blends, and three were Sauvignon Blanc/Roditis blends. The latter point was supported by the multitude of wines that we tasted.

A final point about the data in Tables 3 and 4. In terms of the whites, Table 3 shows 17 blends while Table 4 shows a total of eight wines with similar blends. This means that there are an additional eight unique white blends in the data set. Again, brand-driven rather than region-driven winemaking.

Table 3. Distribution of wines by variety/blend

White	Number of Wines	Red	Number of Wines	Rosé	Number of Wines	Sparkling	Number of Wines	Sweet	Number of Wines
Malagouzia	6	Xinomavro	21	Syrah	1	Debina	1	Gewurtz	1
Assyrtiko	4	Syrah	5	Xinomavro	1	Blend	1	Blend	1
Sauvignon Blanc	4	Cabernet Sauvignon	4	Blends	2
Chardonnay	3	Merlot	3
Atheri	1	Pinot Noir	2
Roditis	1	Tannat	1
Verdicchio	1	Negro Amaro	1
Viognier	1	Limnio	1
Blends	17	Traminer	1
		Aglianico	1
		Blends	29

Table 4. Frequency of blends with incidence greater than one

White Blends	Number of Wines	Red Blends	Number of Wines
Assyrtiko/Sauvignon Blanc	5	Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon/Agiorgitiko	3
Sauvignon Blanc/Roditis	3	Limnio/Cabernet Sauvignon	3
		Syrah/Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon/Xinomavro	3
		Xinomavro/Krassato/Stavroto	3
		Syrah/Xinomavro	2
		Xinomavro/Negoska	2

White Wines
In terms of the white wines, I was most impressed by the Malagouzias, the Assyrtikos, and the Retsinas. The Malagouzias from Alpha Estate, Geravassiliou, Wine Art Estate, and Kitvrs were redolent with white flowers, white fruits, and spice. In addition, the Geravassiliou wine had citrus notes, a green savoriness, and a drying finish. I had an additional opportunity to experience the Alpha Estate Malagouzia at a tasting I helmed in Orlando upon my return and the wine maintained its allure.

The Assyrtikos encountered in North Greece were fruitier and had less mineral and acidity characteristics than their Santorini counterparts. I think that this variety, under the proper conditions, and with the proper winemaking, can be a winner for the region. I tasted tank- and barrel fermented samples at Wine Art Estate and found the former to have complex tropical notes, riper fruit, and less minerality than the wines of Santorini while the latter had toast notes and a harmonic combination of fruit and oak. I was more tolerant of oak in the North Greece Assyrtiko than I am with it in a Santorini Assyrtiko.

I have written previously about my love affair with the Stelios Kechris Retsinas.

In terms of international-variety whites, I was impressed by the 2014 Viognier (excellent minted Viognier, according to my notes), the Verdicchio from Kitvrs (every offering from this winery hit it out of the park in my view), and the Chardonnay from Wine Art Estate. The latter had the stuffing and fundamentals to be a world-class Chardonnay but the oak levels diminished its potential (As a matter of fact that was the case for many of the fine wines in this portfolio and I did mention my observations directly to the winemaker.).

Red Wines
There is an ongoing concerted attempt to present Xinomavro as the face of North Greece red wines and it took a little while for me to get it. At 2014 DWCC, Ted Lelekas and Luiz Alberto presented a seminar on the wines of North Greece and I left the session not feeling the urge to add the wines to my collection. And it was nothing that the guys did. The wine just did not appeal to me. The tomato vegetal character and hint of a mid-palate were somewhat off-putting.

That feeling persisted on this tour until I tasted the 2005 Ramnista at Kir-Yianni and the 2008 Ramnista and the 2007 Boutari 1879 Legacy at the Wine Commanders Master Class at the Plovdiv DWCC. The 2008 Ramnista exhibited ripe fruit, truffles and a kerosene character. Red fruit on the palate with a mid-palate that raised its hand. According to the Wine Commanders, Kir-Yianni use clones that allow greater ripening of fruit (less vegetal character).

According to the Wine Commanders, the year 2007 was a "ripe vintage year" and the the 1879 Legacy reflected this with rich, ripe cherry fruit along with tar, licorice, earth, truffles and spice. And a mid-palate.

What this told me is that Xinomavro, like Barolo and Pinot Noir, for example, shows best after it has had an opportunity to evolve in the bottle. The problem with that is that the trend today is towards wines that are more approachable. One of the ways in which Brunello di Montalcino has solved this problem is by releasing a Rosso early and then holding the Brunello back for a later release. I do not know if Greek vintners have the wherewithal to embark on such a strategy, or some other strategy with a similar outcome, but some mechanism has to be devised where wine drinkers get more exposure to earlier vintages of this wine.

One of my favorite red wines on the trip was the Chateau Porto Carras from Domaine Porto Carras. I was fortunate enough to get a few bottles of this wine to bring back to the states and I offered it at the Orlando tasting I mentioned previously and my fellow tasters were similarly impressed. I am currently in the process of buying a case of selected library vintages of this wine which will be shipped from Domaine Porto Carras to Seabrook in London for trans-shipment to me here in the US.

The international red varieties from Wine Art Estate and Kitvrs were notable. Kitvrs' Syrah and Aglianico were both eye-openers even though tasted at the end of a long day while, but for the oak, I would be placing Wine Art Estate offerings even higher on my list of wines to acquire. The Nebbiolo in the portfolio exhibits all the classic characters of the variety along with a perfumed cassis, nutmeg and a stemminess. The attack left a bit to be desired but yielded to an excellent mid-palate and a long, elegant finish.

I started out by saying that there are too many different wines produced in North Greece. And I will end on that note. For a regional profile to emerge, winemakers will have to focus on fewer things and get really good at the things that they are focusing on. This is not to say that excellent wines are not being made in North Greece. What I am saying is that more of the product coming out of the region will be of uniformly higher quality if a smaller number of varieties became mainstays and production techniques and approaches were honed, standardized, and shared. A regional character would begin to emerge. Rising regions lift all members.


©Wine -- Mise en abyme