| August 8, 2003 |
2003 Summer tour of Greece completed.
We're back from another
fruitful look at Greece's wine industry. During our five strenuous weeks we were rewarded with a much broader perspective
on Greece's progress as a wine producing nation. We visited with some established
names we'd missed on previous trips, met some serious producers just now making their
mark and even added a few unknowns to our list.
All the recent activity
in Greece gives fans of Greek wine an expanded array of choices. The downside is
an increasingly competitive domestic market in Greece that has more than a few producers
on edge. Between the state of the global economy, last year's difficult weather and
the market in Greece bursting with new labels, some of Greece's winemakers face life-or-death
marketing challenges. The best hope remains the development of some kind of a trend
in America. A barely-noticeable increase in Greek presence in America could end the
financial woes of many of Greece's producers. We are working towards that aim. Relief,
however, will come slowly. Needless to say, good weather during and leading up to
the harvest this year would be gratefully received and take some of the edge off.
As long as quality continues to improve, so does hope. We saw plenty of both this
summer. Here is a look back at our itinerary:
Attika
We visited the Evharis (Megara) and Serpieris estates. These are two
of Attika's most interesting properties and their profiles should make for some very
interesting reading. We connected again for lunch and a tasting with Yiannis and
Mary Flerianos and Yiannis Vatistas at Vatistas' amazing fish taverna
at Vari. Alexandros and Maria Megapanos hosted a long overdue meeting with
Roxanne Matsa of Chateau Matsa. Our visit also included a dinner with Intervino's
Manolis Giamniadakis and Yiannis Paraskevopoulos of Gaia Wines.
Rhodes
The island of Rhodes is one of Greece's most overlooked wine regions. Emery Wines,
about to embark on a major winery renovation, is poised to enter the American market.
The company's strong management and forward-thinking oenologist made a big impression
on us. CAIR, the island's cooperative, is recently under new management and
is among Greece's most creative cooperatives.
Crete
In Crete we revisited Kostis Galanis of Nostos, the Lyrarakis family
and Vangelis Lidakis, so expect updates to their profiles. New profiles this
year will feature Creta Olympias, the Cooperative of Sitia and Yiannis
Economou. Crete continues to be an exciting wine region with a serious future.
Santorini
Our visit to Santorini included a vertical tasting of OPAP whites with Paris Sigalas.
We visited with new kid on the block Harithimos Hatzidakis as well as the
imaginative and industrious Santo Wines. We dropped by Antonis Illiopoulos'
Vedema Hotel and had a memorable visit at the Nomikos winery.
Makedonia
Our northern Greece visit this year was shorter than we would have liked. Still,
we managed terrific visits with the Kechris family of Thessaloniki, Karydas
pere et fils and Kostas Kelesidis in Naousa.
Thessalia
Thessalia has made great strides during the last decade. The Dougos and Karipidis
families showed just how far the region has come. There is no visit to the region
without stopping to see Dimitrios and Stella Katsaros. This year we met their
son, Euripides, home on break from his oenological studies in France.
Evia
One of our most memorable visits was at the Mountrihas estate. Panos and family
shared a Sunday repast with us. In addition to providing a banquet fit for royalty,
Panos also introduced us to grapegrower (and now winemaker) Andreas Triantafyllou
from Arma (Viotia).
Peloponessos
Moving southward, we arrived in our annual headquarters in Mykines, only to find
a new winery under construction nearby. More on that next year. Our next stop was
at Haggipavlu in Mantinia. What we found there deeply affected our view of
the region. This story will be among the first to appear on our site this autumn.
From there we traveled to Cabernet country near Pylos to visit with Konstantinos
Tsolis, whose wines have become synonymous with the variety in Greece.
Look forward to new profiles and articles beginning in early September. |
