His latest scores bring home an important message: Selected Greek wines offer very solid quality at fair prices. Out of the 24 wines, 23 were scored 85 points and higher. The top 3 scores (91 points and twice 90 points) went to Santorini producers; all wines are made from the Assyrtiko varietal and come from the hugely successful 2009 vintage. This does not surprise me, as Mark is known to admire the Santorini whites.

What really delights me is the number of other varietals that caught Mark’s attention: A dry Muscat from the Samos Coop, a Robola from Gentilini, Moschofilero from Spiropoulos, the very successful blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Assyrtiko from Pavlidis and more. This just shows the diversity that is available. Greek wines are never boring, and one can find top quality from a large range of varietals. And I might add that the wines featured represent only the tip of the iceberg, as so many Greek wines are not yet exported…

The prices for the wines range from $12 to $30 in the US, with only 6 wines being priced above $20.

Together with Nikos Panidis, he has written a simply superb article about one of the most underestimated qualities of Greek wine, which is the ability to pair perfectly with food. Nikos is also a well-known personality in the Greek wine scene; he worked as sommelier at one of Athens’ top restaurants, Milos. He joined the WSPC in January 08 and works closely with Konstantinos on a number of projects.

I am really proud to publish this first introductory post that lays out why Greek wines pair naturally well with food. The tide is turning, and I have no doubt that we will hear a lot more about this remarkable characteristic over the next years.  Enjoy!

Most Greeks consider discussing food and wine separately something almost unnatural. It divides two things meant to be together. A Greek will never consume wine without at least a nibble on the side, while having lunch or dinner will require the de facto presence of wine. To understand, however, the way wine and food interact on the average Greek table; one must take a closer look at the Greek mentality towards food.

Greeks have been poor people for the greater part of their modern history. Cooking, consequently, was never seen under the elitist light encountered in other countries, most notably France. In certain social layers of France, having access to and being able to afford prime ingredients was taken for granted, so the focus was on the artistry of turning them into food. When ability and style in cooking became such an important element, each creation had to be discussed. If a piece of meat was expertly prepared, then it had to be served to all people at the table at the same time. A subtle consequence of this practice was that every course had to be a showstopper; it had to be “taste overkill.” Matching wine with these courses inevitably followed.

Having enough money to buy what was needed for a proper dinner was frequently out of question in Greece. Thus, the cook had to invent cheap ways of adding variety to the dinner table – preparing small portions of many, different things, using the yesterday’s leftovers and turning them into something else. The low boredom threshold of Greeks helped as well. Over time, a certain philosophy developed. When people are invited to dinner in the average Greek household, they will never face just a starter, a salad and a main course. The hosts will prepare possibly a dozen various dishes, not served all together, but two or three at a time. There will be structure to the meal, but only a loose one –meat will come after seafood and before desserts, richer dishes after simpler or fresher ones– but nothing will come off the table until it is finished or until the table is full.

Under these circumstances, the traditional, quite static notion of matching food and wine goes out the window. Wine will have to provide refreshment or play counterpoint to the mouthfuls. There will be a more specific selection only if there is a broad theme on what is served. For example, at a fish lunch more white wine will be drunk and, on Easter Day, a tannic red wine will be matched with the traditional lamb on the spit. Not surprisingly, selecting wine acquired a much broader dimension, allowing the occasion, the time of the day or the climate to play a role. A summer lunch with friends by the seaside requires something refreshing, even if these friends suddenly decide to order some lamb chops. In Greece, there is one basic rule: if the wine is enjoyable, the food delicious and everyone has a hearty appetite for food, wine and good friends, then the match is perfect. Harmony is a holistic and vibrant concept, not confined to stagnant perceptions like “proteins must always be matched with tannins.”

The way Greeks approach matching wine and food, as well as the fact that drunkenness has been unacceptable for millennia, formulated a certain array of wine styles. Wines had to be refreshing, relatively low in alcohol, flavorful but never heavy; they had to be almost discreet on the palate. Greek wines should never be “a meal in themselves”, emphasising food friendliness above all other aspects.

For these precise reasons, Greek wines can be an ideal partner to any national cuisine and any cooking approach, enhancing not only the match, but the whole dining experience. That is what they were made for.

This is a guest post by the love of my life, my wife Alexandra. Her passion for running is a great source of inspiration, as are her achievements! Our kids and me are enormously proud of her, although we begin to worry what on earth might be her next “running goal”

As some of you may know, I have a passion for running – it is an essential part of my life. Any run will do to lift the spirit, whether short or long, easy or difficult. What makes running buzzy and exciting is setting a goal and pursuing it. As a matter of fact, running turned from mere exercise to a fun part of the day, when I started running with a stopwatch, and was able to benchmark myself.

Running a marathon (please read her post from last year)  will always remain the ultimate challenge as not even the most experienced athlete can ever be sure of actually finishing, and even less of performing well. However during the year I stumbled across an event that intrigued me and I decided to go for it: Greece’s first and only mountain run during nighttime.

The run specifics read as follows:
Place: Mount Pelion (340 km north of Athens). Distance 16,1 km. Start time: 9pm. Max time to complete: 5 hours. Course profile: 8 km downhill – then 8,1 km uphill. Total elevation gain: 940 meters (or 3083 feet)

I am a city girl and admittedly I had no idea what to expect from a mountain trail or indeed an elevation gain of 940 meters. My perspective upon reading this was the following: I race 16 km in less than 1 hour 15 minutes. So I added another 15 minutes for the eventuality of having a bad day on the day and another 30 minutes to account for mountain difficulties. I sure ran up every Athenian ascent to train for it. I concluded that two hours would be an almost ridiculously generous estimate, for basically 8 uphill kilometers – after all, how hard could the first 8km be?

About 50 people signed up for the run. The communication, place and character of the event were all very low profile. I therefore presumed this to be an amateur happening, organized by local mountain run lovers looking for some fun. I envisioned the bib numbers being written up on A4 paper at the start line, latter being a chalk mark on the ground, medical care being restricted to a selection of different size plasters and the supply station actually being the forest fountain for water.

I enquired insistently about how the trail would be marked out. During such small events the crowd very quickly dissolves to everyone’s own pace, so you run mostly on your own, and I was terrified of the oversight of a turn in the darkness, amidst endless forest, at the top of a mountain, with no-one around to ask for directions.

Well, none of my expectations turned out right!

The organizer turned out being a celebrity in his field: Nikos Magitsis is the only Greek mountaineer having completed the Seven Summits. He is also a successful trail runner of international caliber – he has qualified and will to take part at the prestigious Mont Blanc Ultra Marathon on August 27th, 2010. He is nothing if not genuine – a very gentle man with immense love and respect for the mountains, nature, and trailing sports. He organizes such runs because of his devotion to the sport, and to give like-minded people the opportunity to experience such runs in a conscientiously organized environment. Professionalism and a deep sense of duty are evident already within the first moments of meeting him.

The starting point was almost at the mountaintop. For the start and finish line a gigantic bright orange blow-up gate had been set up, there were loud music, an ambulance, lots of helpers setting up the party afterwards and a euphoric running crowd warming up, with headlamps. It was dusk and the stunning views reached all the way down to the sea. For the record, my bib number was not handwritten, but was made of highly resilient, waterproof material, to withstand all mountain weather conditions – best quality bib I’ve come across so far.

Some runners carried the full range of available specialized gear for such events. Running rucksacks, camel packs (= drink bags), trekking poles, compression socks. The latter look quite funny. They are tight fitting, over-the-calf socks aimed at improving oxygen delivery to muscles and lead to greater muscle efficiency. I have no idea if it works. Apparently even compression underwear exists, but judging from the squeezy look of the socks, I would not really want to test that, and I am a woman.

Nikos answered my worries about getting lost with the well-natured quote he apparently has used before (and I was informed worriers have always been women): “There is absolutely no way that you will get lost – none! But if you DO get lost, don’t tell anyone because they will think you are an idiot.” I frowned at this, but during the run I had to laugh at myself. The markings were indeed absolutely idiot-proof. There were signs, reflectors and ribbons in the trees every 5 meters, as well as huge red arrows on the ground. In a trail not even known to Google Earth, it was an unmistakably delineated course. A fantastic achievement over 16 km in the dark!

The event was clearly not a competition. Everybody was in it for the challenge of finishing. The only rival was oneself and possibly the forest life we were warned about with the sentence: “if you hear anything running next to you and it doesn’t have a headlamp, don’t’ worry, it’s just a wild boar.”

For many – as for me – it was their first mountain run, and for everyone it was their first run in the darkness. We turned on our headlamps and off we went. Very soon, we were in the deep night. And soon after that, I was on already running alone.

Upon arriving at the first supply station, I found it to be a small oasis: there was light, a guy cheering up all runners as they arrived, music, nuts, crisps, energy drinks and gels – you name it, they had it. I wouldn’t be surprised if they handed out a whiskey if asked for one. Incidentally, there was no fountain in sight. It was all bottled stuff. Nikos took care of us.

I don’t know if there are adequate words to describe the trail and the feeling during the run. The course itself was made up of 30% dirt road and 70% mountain trail. The trail varied from dried up rivers that one could barely walk through because of the huge rocks to narrow paths that were less than 30 cm wide, where one could only do small steps not seeing their feet as vegetation was up to the waist.

I reached the bottom in 54 minutes. On a flat course I am already in my 12th km at that time. But the descent was, at times, so steep that I could either only progress sideways almost fearing the release of a landslide, or slowly slide-down the path because of the boulder. My thighs were sore from the strength it took to support me during this part.

I then commenced the climb, and it was literally that. Every so often I had to heave myself up from the surrounding tree branches. The concept of “running” was a joke, as even just walking was barely possible. Due to the complete darkness there was no indication of what was to come in the trail and where the end of a trail section was. On top of that, there was an utter lack of feeling for how much a distance one had covered, because no steady pace was possible.

At a forest plateau after what seemed like hours, a guy appeared completely unexpectedly and asked: “everything alright?” I was so concentrated on my effort, that it took me a moment to orientate, and to place him as one of the organizers, just checking on runners. I asked: “how long to go?” And he said: “3 km…..” My mental state was alert enough, to deduce that this meant I was just at 13 km – I honestly felt more like having done 33 km.

I did not experience the last trauma in this run, though: When I finally saw afar the finish line I started my homerun. There were noises to my right, and I turned to check them out. Hundreds of bright yellow spots reflecting on my headlamp light faced me, and immediately a huge noise followed, as the completely shocked goat herd started fleeing all at once in random directions. They must have wondered, what on earth was going on in their forest, that night!

The first woman to cross the finish line did so in 2 hours exactly. I followed second, not a minute too soon, in 2 hours 35 minutes and was just thrilled to have made it. The last runner came in after 5 hours 8 minutes.

When I arrived, the party was already going on, as lots of the runners’ families had come to celebrate their achievement with them. The atmosphere was wonderful; the crowd was relaxed and joyful, the mood easygoing and there were food and drink in abundance.

Nikos had even organized a winner’s ceremony with medals and cups. The great thing about that was that my kids thought their Mami (mum) was the greatest, for bringing home such a huge, shiny “second place” cup.

Upon leaving I genuinely thanked Nikos and his whole team of volunteers for everything. He assured me that the pleasure and fun were all his and that was his reason for doing it, every time. As a matter of fact, he would be getting married in September and was trying to convince his wife-to-be to just do a running event followed by a party like that one, instead of organizing another cliché reception.

Now, that’s original thinking, but quite a hard qualifier, to get to see the bride! I don’t know if under circumstances possibly requiring you to run up Mount Olymp in order to attend the ceremony, you really want to be on the guest list

I left Mount Pelion with the lingering feeling, that this was without a doubt the best organized, warm, friendly, intimate and definitely most fun event I have ever taken part in. It’s in such moments, that I am immensely proud of being Greek and of having such compatriots. Niko, kick butt at Mont Blanc! See you next year.

Many other stories about life in Greece can be found in the only in Greece column.

Greek wines are discreet wines.

They offer the following characteristics:

• Crisp and refreshing acidity
• Noticeable but soft tannins
• Light bodied texture
• Relative low alcohol
• Mellow palate

This combination makes them the ultimate food wines. They are never too overpowering, yet packed with pure elegance. They are naturally restrained wines, balanced and harmonious. They truly complement food, rather than stealing the spotlight. They are simply made to be enjoyed, yet are far from being simple!

While spending some time last week with my family in Laconia, Peloponnese, I was intrigued by a taverna that offered high quality bottled wines from one of my favourite producers in Laconia, Vatistas. The holiday season lasts from June until the end of September, and I asked the owner of the taverna how many bottles he sells during this time. He replied that they sell about 100 bottles during the holiday season, roughly one bottle per day. As for open house wine, they sell about 1200 litres during the same time, about 10 litres per day. The bottled wine was 11 € per bottle, a litre house wine priced at 5 €.

I asked what grape varietals the white house wine consisted of (I was not able to identify this, and believe it was a blend). The answer was accompanied by a shrug with the shoulders: “It’s white, we also have rosé and red.” Tavernas outside of Greece continue a similar tradition – they do not have access to open house wine, but fill this void by offering mostly cheap bottled wine that is mass-produced and often dull.

I renew my call upon the Greek wineries to seriously consider an additional alternative by introducing more solid quality bag in box wines and promote those to the tavernas. Imagine the tourists would be able to taste a few different varietals by the glass at competitive prices… There is enough talent in this country to ensure that the quality would be much improved in comparison to the current offering.

As we are in the middle of the summer, I limit myself to whites and rosés, although I also enjoy slightly cooled and unoaked Agiorgitikos. The following five wines are my personal preferences that fall into the above category. I am well aware that there are many more sound value wines around, but these are the ones that I drink happily on a daily basis. Please share your personal favourites in the comment section below – I am interested in learning about them!

All wines are available at the indicated prices at AB supermarkets in Athens, the odd prices are due to the increased VAT rate of 23% that was officially introduced on July 1st:

Whites:

Palivou Anemos white 2009 (Rodotis) 13% alc. € 6,67
The colour is a pale straw; this has lovely aromas of melon and mango. The fruitiness continues on the palate with yellow plums and exotic white fruits. It has a fairly dense structure with refreshing acidity. A modern styled wine, perfect with seafood – a real summer charmer.

Gaia Notios white 2009 (Moschofilero/Roditis) 12% alc. € 6,94
Very pale silver colour, melon and fresh flowers dominate the nose. It is medium bodied on the palate, with a refreshing acidity that seems to work wonders. The fruit really comes to live; this is a vibrant wine, harmonious without being pretentious, a food wine par excellence (for an unusual pairing with this, click here).

Sokos Malagousia 2009 12.5% alc. € 7,54
Light lemon colour, the dominating aromas are peaches and apricots, coupled with a nice spiciness. It is dense and broad on the palate with a buttery texture and a matching acidity. The wine really shines on the mid-palate; the finish is also very satisfying and quite long. It has got to be one of the best value Malagousias around.

Tselepos Mantineia 2009 (Moschofilero) 12% alc. € 8,01
This has a clear and bright silver colour. The nose is very aromatic, spicy and floral with apricot lingering in the background, also some bread dough. On the palate it is medium bodied with a great freshness and lots of citrus notes, the spiciness comes through and adds another dimension. It is very well balanced and has a solid and long finish that catapults the citrus notes right back. This is a great effort, and a cut above the others.

Rosés:

Skouras Rosé (Roditis/Agiorgitiko) 12% alc. € 5,35
Medium deep piggy pink coloured with a watery rim. Very open nose of honey-melon and raspberries, also some floral components. It is crisp on the palate with some density and weight. As with all Skouras wines, this is quite elegant in style. The finish is solid, the ripe fruits always present. Very delicious indeed and a great value wine.

As for other rosés, Greece has some very exciting offerings – unfortunately I find these to be overpriced. When I look at the shelves, the majority of rosé wines are priced nowadays between € 8 and € 12. I am sorry, but despite the quality on offer, I am having a hard time to justify these price tags. They are simply not competitive.

The Peloponnese is of course hugely important as a vine growing area and I will be on the lookout for any new exciting finds. We are spending our first week in the prefecture of Laconia, which is located in the most southern part of the Peloponnese. The area is full of viticultural treasures and there are many indigenous grape varieties that can only be found here. Although Laconia has been historically very significant for wines, it was not until 1990 that commercial wineries were established. By now, some truly exciting wines are being produced. Top wineries include Vatistas, Theodorakakou and the Monemvasia Winery.

The second week we will travel to the northwest, to the prefecture of Ilia. It is here that we have family roots, as the late father of my wife was born in the village of Zaharo. Just 25 years ago it was hard to find any producer who bottled their wine. A lot has changed since – top quality producers like Kokkalis and the Mercouri Estate are located in Ilia.

Michael Holzer, who had watched the Greek wine episode on Wine Library TV, contacted me towards the end of May. Michael is a physician who works at the University of Miami and travels a lot with his 5-year old daughter. I highly recommend you read about their adventures here: www.mytb.org/throughmyeyes.

This year’s summer trip was to be in South Africa for the football world cup; in addition, they had also planned to visit Greece for a few days. After having watched the Wine Library episode, Michael became so interested in the Xinomavro varietal that he actually changed his already fully planned schedule to make time to visit some of the producers I recommended to him.

I just received the following message from him that I would like to share (kind permission received):

I had a great time in Greece and the wine tasting was awesome….definitely a big fan of Xinamavro.  Went to Alpha Estate and spent a couple hours with Angelos Iatridis who took me around the winery. I was lucky because there was a big tasting the day before so I was able to taste their whole line including a few different years of their top wines.  Really enjoyed their flagship blend, as well as their top Xinamavro and a Tannat.
 
Also went to Dalamara and Kir Yianni, both I enjoyed.
 
The highlight though was the time I spent with Apostolos Thimiopoulos.  He took me around the hills of Naoussa, let my daughter play with his rabbits, served us good food, and tasted his incredible wine, including barrel tasting of the 2008 Uranos which was incredible….I was also able to get some of the 2007 off him as well….he was very impressed how I came all the way to Naoussa after watching the wine library episode…..Really is a great person, who makes some incredible wine.
 
Thanks again for all the info and introducing me to some great Greek wine….I brought back a bunch of bottles as well to drink over the years. 

Thank you so much Michael, I am delighted that you had such a rewarding time. The pictures with the winemakers speak for themselves ;) And what great way to introduce your cute daughter to the world of wine!

Cruvee is a client of the highly influential Vintank, a digital think tank for the wine industry. My good friend (unfortunately not in real life yet , Chief Strategy Officer Paul Mabray, contacted me immediately to ask if I wanted to involve Greek wineries in this movement. Thanks Paul, I really appreciate this – you are always on the ball! I am delighted to announce that Manousakis Winery – Nostos Wines from Crete has now become the first Greek winery (maybe even the first European one?) to take advantage of this innovative technology that might well become a game changer for wineries. Take a look at the result here. I hope that many more will follow suite. I can’t think of any reason why wineries would not opt to do so. Greek wineries, I am here to help, contact me if you have any questions.

Some additional important info: The YourWineYourWay movement is active in distributing data developed and managed by wineries to a network of 50 partners including mobile applications, wine etailors, wholesale/distributors, social networks, wine portals, and more.

There are of course writers that have covered Greece for quite some time. Tara Q. Thomas has been writing on the subject for years. She is the senior editor of the Wine & Spirits Magazine, some of her earlier writings can be found here.

This morning, I received the August 2010 issue of the magazine, and Tara covers one of my favourite Greek wine regions, Monemvasia, in great detail. Her article is one of the best I have ever come across: Extremely informative, rich in history, and written in a passionate voice that deeply touched me. Wine writing can hardly be better than this! The piece is followed immediately by another article by her, this time a personal homage to Greek pies. This is also written in a truly captivating style. After finishing the article, I drove straight to a bakery and bought a spinach pie for lunch. Previews of both pieces are here, full articles are available in the print edition.

Also included in the August issue are tasting notes and scores for 38 Greek wines covering many regions, out of which 25 are scored 90 to 93 points, priced between $16 and $42. 80% of all featured wines are priced below $ 30.