The PDO Muscat wines of Greece

In this series I have been delving into the Muscat cultivar. With my most recent post on the Muscats of Patras and Rio Patras, I have completed coverage of the Greek instances of the cultivar and I have summarized the wines in the below chart.

Some observations re the wines:

• With two exceptions (Muscats of Patras and Rio Patras), the wines are all sourced from grapes grown in island environments
• With the exception of Lemnos, the wines are all from the Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains cultivar
• The wines are mostly sweet wines either made from sun-dried grapes or are fortified. PDO Lemnos is a dry Muscat.
• The wines are all 100% Muscats except in the case of the Cretan wines where the Muscat can be a minor contributor in the blend
• Within the various PDO regions, the muscats are known by a variety of names: Moschoudi, Muscat of Cephalonia, Moschato Spinas, Muscat of Rhodes, Moschato Aspro, and Moschato Alexandrias (Muscat of Alexandria from Lemnos).

I will continue the review of the variety with a look at the Muscats of Italy going forward.

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The sweet white wines of the Achaia PGI (Greece): PDO Muscats of Patras and Rio Patras

I have, in this series, covered all of the Greek Muscat wines with the exception of the Muscats of Patras and Rio Patras. I address that shortcoming in this post.

Achaia is one of the largest wine producing regions in Greece, with vineyards stretching over 27,000 ha. As shown in the map below, the region includes four PDOs within its borders in addition to the Vineyards of Egialia. Most of Achaia's territory lie on the slopes of three steep mountains and these act as barriers to the hot winds blowing from the south.

Apart from some coastal areas, the only low lying part of the region is found in the western part of the prefecture and the vineyards here are influenced  by the proximity to the sea. These vineyards are at the door-step of the mountain ranges and they are influenced by the cooler aromatic winds coming from the mountains as well as sea breezes during the summer. However, this is the parcel with the richest, most fertile, soils, as well as the warmest mesoclimates. The flat part of Achaia is the "work-horse" of Achaia's grape output, capable of producing everyday wines of good quality and great value, as well as some of the best sweet wines made in Greece (winesofwesterngreece.com).

The map below further zooms in on the Achaia PGI in order to provide more expansive views of the Muscat of Patras and Muscat of Rio Patras PDOs.

Muscat of Patras and Muscat of Rio Patras PDOs
(Source: delongwine.com)

The climate is Mediterranean, with long, dry summers and short rainy winters modified by the Gulf of Patras to the northwest and the Gulf of Corinth to the northeast.

The geography of Patras varies from the seaside in the north to high mountain peaks in the south, with a largely rugged mountainous interior. Vineyards are planted from the coastal areas to higher altitudes in the mountains to the south. Vineyards above 900 m enjoy a cooler growing season with higher diurnal temperature variation. 

Muscat grapes (called Moschoudi in this PGI) prefer the warmer environments closer to the shores and are used in Patras in the production of sweet white wines from sun-dried grapes (vin naturellement doux) as well as through termination of fermentation using grape alcohol (vin deux naturel (vin de liqueur)).

The PDO of Rio Patras is a smaller overlapping appellation which covers the coastal areas to the east. The warmer environemnt allows for riper, sweeter  grapes than in Patras and, as a result, wines that are more "fruit-forward."

Achea Claus, the oldest winery in the region (1861) produces both a sun-dried and a fortified wine. I will use their production processes as a proxy for the region's. 

For the wine made from sun-dried grapes, the grapes are exposed to the sun for about 3 to 4 days. They become dehydrated and acquire additional sugar content and aromas. The grapes are then subjected to a white wine vinification.

For the fortified wine, grape alcohol is added to the must prior to the start of alcoholic fermentation. The wine thus preserves all of the grape sugars and the varietal aromas.

Achaia Claus describes its Muscat of Patras thusly: "Light golden color with green hues with honey and lemon scents composing a highly aromatic bouquet. Its lively acidity level binds the flavors and boosts the basic flavor and structures of this great sweet wine. The finish is long with a prevailing taste of honey."

The Muscat of Rio Patras is limited in its production and is lauded for its aromatic depth, persistence, acidity, and complexity. Aromas and flavors revolve around dried apricots, pears, and orange notes.

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PDO Muscat of Rhodes

My exploration of the Muscat family of cultivars continues herein with Greece's PDO Muscat of Rhodes. The Greek Muscat wines studied to date have been, with the exception of Muscat of Lemnos, drawn from the small-berried (Petits Grains) instance of this cultivar family. PDO Muscat of Rhodes is no exception.

Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese Islands and, based on archaeological evidence was one of the first Greek islands to engage in the cultivation of grapes.

PDO Muscat of Rhodes (indicated by arrow)

Wine exportation was a key aspect of ancient Rhodian commerce and the amphorae in which their wines were transported were engraved with either a rose or an image of the Sun God Helios. Wine production. Wine production and exportation retained their importance until Rhodes was overrun by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1522.

Rhodes experiences mild winters and long summers, the latter of which is moderated by cool winds form the north. Winters are short and rainy.

The island's early geological history shows deposits of cherry limestone in the shallow waters to the north in the 210 - 65 million years ago. Subsequent compression of the crust led to the formation of mountains which themselves eroded over time. Finally, basins developed and infilled with marls, which make fertile soils. The oldest limestones were erosion-resistant and represent the highest point on the island today. The dominant soil types currently are clay and limestone. 

PDO Muscat of Rhodes can be 100% Muscat of Rhodes or can be made from a clone called Muscat di Trani (called Moscato di Triani Reale in Puglia) which was introduced by the Italians during their rule of the Dodecanese from 1912 to 1947. Muscat of Rhodes vineyards  are few and "scattered on small isolated lanes of land" and today there are only "a handful" of vineyards planted to Muscat di Trani.

The wine is available in two styles:

• Vin naturellement doux (sun-dried)
• Vin doux naturel - Vin du liqueur (fortified).

If the grapes are sourced from a low-yield, producer-owned vineyard, the wine can be labeled Grand Cru. 

The white Muscat from Rhodes has "outstanding complexity" with notes of fragrant rose petals and ripe fruit. It is refreshing on the palate with moderate acidity and great aging potential. Muscat of Rhodes made from the Muscat di Trani has notes akin to the Muscat of Lemnos.

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Puglia's Moscato di Trani

I have been flipping between the Muscat wines of Greece, Italy, and Turkey and between the Petits Grains and Alexandria branches of the Muscat family and my hope was to close out the Greek phase of the review by reporting on the Muscats of Rhodes, Patras, and Rio Patras. But, the best laid plans ...

In studying the PDO Muscat of Rhodes, I discovered that the wine can contain both Muscat of Rhodes and Muscat di Trani. That was a blow because my approach does not allow passing mentions so I would have to contextualize Muscat di Trani before listing it as a component of PDO Muscat of Rhodes. Herein the contextualization of Muscat di Trani.

Moscato di Trani, is considered one of the oldest wines in Puglia, with a history stretching back to 1000 AD when the Venetians began to offer it in trade; even signing an agreement called the Trani Customs House. The wine eventually became so popular that, in the 14th century, the Count of Trani placed a limit on the export of quality wine from the ports of the Kingdom of Naples.

In the 16th Century, Moscato di Trani was described by the artist Leandro Alberti as "a product so excellent as to be very delicate in taste."

Today Moscato di Trani is grown primarily in Puglia's Bari province, in vineyards close to the Adriatic Sea. The climate is Mediterranean while the soils are limestone and clay. 

Moscato di Trani DOC (Map ©Federdoc)

The region gained its DOC status in 1974 and, under that regime, the following wines are allowed:

• Dolce Naturale: > 85% Moscato Reale di Trani; < 15% other aromatic white grapes; 10% abv; RS > 3.5%; Aging > 6 months
• Liquoroso: > 85% Moscato Reale di Trani; < 15% other aromatic white grapes; 16% abv; RS > 3.5%; Aging > 5 months.

According to Domenico Valenti of the Pandala Agricultural Company, the grapes for Moscato di Trani are dried directly on the plant without cutting the shoots or placing the bunches on racks. During the growth phase the grapes are subjected to green pruning.

Azienda agricola Francesco di Filippo

… continues the tradition by working its own Moscato Reale grapes through a refinement process based on naturalness, simplicity and professionalism, all essential elements to make its wines * Ecstasy * Unique and Unmistakable. The grapes are ripe for harvest in the first ten days of August, but by choice they are harvested late at the end of October, when the bunches have dried naturally on the vine until they reach an ideal concentration of intense and persistent aromas and scents. We wait for Mother Nature to take her slow and natural course, totally different from artificial drying in greenhouses more commonly called fruit rooms with artificial hot air to accelerate ripening or bunches spread out on racks in the sun.  

During the manual harvest, only the healthy bunches are chosen, while the bunches with mold (botrytis cinerea) are not collected, so as not to compromise the extraordinary organoleptic qualities of the wine's nectar, in order to obtain an elegant and entrancing wine.  

Another important and fundamental element is the Time factor (our ally) as the wine is left to rest and mature only and exclusively in stainless steel silos for several years so that it can refine and release its personality made of intense aromas and aromas, persistent and elegant deriving from the native vine and above all from its territory of origin (Trani).

Ilaria Introzzi, writing in marieclaire.it, describes the aromas and flavors of Muscato di Trani thusly:

First of all, the muscat grape, which is followed closely by honeyed and buttery notes, with a strong presence of hints of yellow fruit jam (apricot, peach, etc...) as well as the aromas of yellow and strongly odorous flowers such as acacia, linden, broom, to move on to dried flowers, withered rose in particular, until it then widens to pleasant hints of tropical fruit, from pineapple to mango, papaya, until it opens to elegant and clean citrus saline notes, to spicy aromas of vanilla, star anise, white chocolate, with a light and pleasant almond finish.

Rather breathless but captures the kaleidoscope of aromas and flavors inherent in the wine.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

PDO Muscat of Cephalonia

The Muscat grape is one of the oldest and most widespread grape families in the world and I have periodically reported on instances of its implementation. Previous writings include Asti DOCG, Muscat of Samos, Muscat of Spina, Muscat of Lemnos, and Muscat of Bornova. I continue the work with this post on the Muscat of Cephalonia.

Cephalonia, largest of the Ionian Islands, is covered in mountain ranges, with the highest peaking out at 1600 m.

Cephalonia has a rich viticultural history "that dates back to ancient times, steeped in myth and legend ... but, after a lengthy down period, "it wasn't until the mid-1960s that interest was rekindled with the establishment of modern wineries. It was then that the island's excellent local wines ... became known internationally" (cephaloniawineclub.com).

PDO Muscat of Cephalonia was established in 1971and covers wines made from Muscat grapes grown in the western portion of the island on the Paliki Peninsula. As the below chart shows, Cephalonia is a sub-region of the Ionian Islands appellation. The Paliki Peninsula, home of the Muscat PDO, has distinct breccia and limestone and sandstone and conglomerate soil zones.

The climate is classic Mediterranean with mild winters and warm summers moderated by sea breezes. Annual rainfall ranges between 800 and 1200 mm.

Vineyard plots on the island are relatively small, averaging 4.5 acres/grower. 

Muscat PDO wines can be either vin naturellement doux (from sun-dried grapes) or vin doux naturel -- vin de liquer (fortified). If the grapes are sourced from the producer's vineyard, and the yields are low, the wine can be labeled Grand Cru.

I have used the 2019 Petrakopoulos to illustrate the production elements of a PDO Muscat of Cephalonia. This estate's grapes are grown on terraces on clay and sandy soil in a semi-mountainous area in the western part of the island. 

The grapes were subjected to "strict" pruning during the growing season. The late-harvested fruit were carefully sorted. Further concentration of the sugars was achieved by short, indirect exposure of the grapes to the sun. The grapes were fermented naturally and the resulting wine was bottled with no clarification or filtration.

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Is Bornova Misketi (Muscat of Bornova), the Muscat cultivar from Izmir, Turkey, the oldest variety in the world?

I am in the early phases of a journey exploring the worldwide deployment of the Muscat cultivar so I was excited when a reader of my post on Muscat of Spina pointed me to a Muscat from the Izmir region of Turkey. This was an exciting lead in that it would allow me to explore very close to the site where Muscat first broke from the initial domesticated cultivar approximately 10,000 years ago.

The name of this Turkish cultivar is Bornova Misketi (Muscat of Bornova), said nomenclature deriving from its village of origin in the Izmir province of the Aegean region. The grape is now primarily grown in the neighboring province of Manisa.

Source; winesofturkey.com

Bornova Misketi is reputed to be the oldest known variety in the world and was mentioned in the 5th-century BC writings of Herodotus.

The growing region in Izmir is blessed with a Mediterranean climate and sandy-loamy soils. The Manisa area has similar soils but sits in a transition zone between the Mediterranean and continental climates and at a much higher altitude.

The soils in Izmir have higher levels of potassium, iron, copper and lime than is the case for Manisa. According to Kareoglau and Cabaroglu (A comparison of the volatile and phenolic compositions of Muscat of Bornova wines from two different terroirs in the Aegean region of Turkey, Food Sci. Technol 40(4), Oct-Dec 2020), higher levels of metal ions can influence the rate of enzymatic browning. Further, lime-rich soils tend to produce quality wines with "better aroma intensity, color, and body."

The characteristics of the Bornova Misketi cultivar are illustrated in the chart below.

The aroma compounds responsible for the characteristic muscat flavor are monoterpenic compounds mainly derived from the grape berry. These aromas result from the presence of threshold levels of terpenes (linalool, geraniol, nerol, citronellol, α-terpinool) and norisprenoids. Terpenes is the most important group of volatile compounds in Muscat varieties with linalool the most abundant compound.

The Kareoglau and Cabaroglu study showed that both the Linalool and Geraniol terpenes had values significantly greater than the threshold levels of typical Muscat wines. For example, the threshold level for geraniol is 30 μg/L while levels in Bornova Misketi is 50 μg/L. 

The purpose of the study, though, was to determine whether Bornova Miskiti was subject to terroir or vintage effects. Wines from the Izmir and Manisa terroirs were studied over two harvest periods and the following findings were reported:

• The terroir effects on the concentrations of all terpene compounds was found to be significant (except for the (E)-pyran linalool oxide and geranic acid concentrations)
• The effect of vintage on all terpene compounds was also found ot be significant.

Dry, semi-dry and fully sweet wines are made from the variety. These wines can be drunk alone as aperitifs as well as pairing extremely well with fruits and vegetables, seafood and white meats, and dishes featuring a variety of spices and savory condiments.

Getting back to the question posed in the title, we know, based on the work of Dong, et al., that Bornovo Misketi is not the oldest variety in the world. That honor is reserved to the CG1 and CG2 cultivars  domesticated in the Caucasus and Western Asia Domestication Centers approximately 11,000 years ago. It is a descendant, however, of the Muscat variety that split form the main line 10,500 years ago. The question remains as to how direct is the linkage.

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The Muscat (of Spina) wine of Crete, Greece

The Muscat grape is one of the oldest and most widespread grape families in the world, splitting, as it did, from the main branch of vitis vinifera some 10,500 years ago. The, predominantly, white wine has a pronounced aromatic quality due to the higher-than-average presence of aroma compounds in the berry. The most planted of the over 200 cultivars in the family are Muscat Blanc á Petits Grains and Muscat of Alexandria and my survey of these cultivars began with a review of the former, as implemented in the wines of Asti DOCG, and continued with the Muscat wines of Samos, Greece.  In this post I continue the survey with a review of the Muscat of Spina wines of Crete, Greece.

History of Crete and Cretan Wines

As shown in the map below, Crete is the southernmost of the Greek islands. The island's wine history

Source: tripsavvy.com

stretches back to the Minoan Period and has, except for the Ottoman period, been a story of successful, high-quality wine.

Selected Aspects of Cretan Wine Growing Environment

The physical and legal environments underpinning selected aspects of the Cretan wine industry are presented in the chart below. The chart highlights the areas of relevance to Muscat of Spina (which I am covering in this post) and the Liatiko variety (which I will be covering in a subsequent post).

Muscat of Spina

According to the literature, Muscat of Spina was another of the forgotten greek varieties (see, Malagouzia, for example) until the brothers Strataridakis (Manolo and Kostis) came along and gave it "the opportunity it needed." Today the variety is well ensconced in Cretan vineyards, the source of single-variety wines that "have earned their place on the top of white aromatic Greek wines."

Moschato Spinas (local terminology) originates from the province of Spina in the prefecture of Chania. The variety is a clone of Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains, differing mainly in berry-skin thickness. It is the only allowed Muscat on Crete. The primary growing areas for the variety today is in Central Crete in the villages of Maza and Spina and the Heraklion region.

The primary characteristics of the variety are detailed in the chart below.

Wines from this variety are characterized as the most flavorful of the wines on the Island with intense fruity and floral aromas of orange peel, lime, lemon blossom and rose petals. Muscat of Spina wines are primarily used as the minor partner in PDO blends (PDO Malvasia Handakis - Candia, PDO Malvasia Sitia) but play a much bigger role in the PGI sphere.

PGI wines using the Muscat of Spina variety can be produced anywhere on the island and can be dry, semi-dry, semi-sweet, or sweet wines. In looking at some of the winery products, the wines can be 100% Muscat of Spina or can be blends. For example, Douloufakis produces a medium sweet wine which is 50% Muscat and 50% Vilana while Titakis produces a wine that is a blend of Muscat and Vidiano.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme