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Greece

Greece Although ancient Greeks were renowned winemakers, modern Greeks certainly haven’t been viewed in the same light until recently. Part of this unenviable contemporary image is attached to Greece’s RETSINA wines, which for most outsiders is definitely an acquired taste. Greece started making inroads into modern wine-production techniques and quality control in the 1960s and 1970s as it worked to gain European Economic Community (EEC) membership, which was finalized in 1981. Starting in the early 1970s, the Greeks began implementing an APPELLATION system based on the French model for their quality wines. As with other wine-quality systems, the qualifying categories are determined by several factors including the suitability and history of the grape variety, sugar levels, vineyard elevation, soil composition, yield per stremma (¹⁄4 acre), and winemaking practices (such as barrel aging). There are four distinct Greek categories. OPAP (Onomasía Proeléfseos Anotéras Piótitos), Greece’s “Appellation of Origin of Superior Quality,” currently has twenty appellations. OPE (Onomasía Proeléfseos Eleghoméni), or “Controlled Appellation of Origin,” has eight appellations and is for sweet wines made from MUSCAT or MAVRODAPHNE. Topikos Inos (local wine), the Greek equivalent to the French VINS DE PAYS, has 139 appellations. This last category has a special designation—“Appellation by Tradition”—which includes RETSINA and Verdea. Epitrapezios Inos (table wine) is equivalent to the French VIN DE TABLE and, as in countries like France and Italy, winemakers sometimes choose to make some of their highest-quality wines in this category in order to not be constrained by the restrictions of the higher categories. Three of Greece’s top appellations producing red wines are Neméa, Náoussa, and Playies Melitona, the latter allowing the use of CABERNET SAUVIGNON and CABERNET FRANC varieties. Other key OPAP appellations are Daphnes, Limnos, Patras, Rhodes, Santorini, Sitia, and Zitsa. Top OPE appellations are Mavrodaphne of Patras and Muscat of Samos. For OPAP and OPE categories, the term Reserve means that white wines have been aged for 2 years and red wines for 3 years. “Grand reserve” signifies that white wines have aged for 3 years and red wines for 4 years. For table wines, the term Kava indicates that white wines have been aged for 2 years and red wines for 3 years. White wines labeled “Reserve,” “Grand Reserve,” and “Kava” are generally sweet. Greece’s principal growing regions include the Peloponnese, the large peninsula in the south of Greece that produces about one-third of the total wines; Macedonia and Epirus in the north; Attica, the second most productive region, which is in the southeastern region around Athens; the Island of Crete, south of the mainland; and Cephalonia and other islands west of the mainland. There are also vineyards south and southeast of the mainland on the islands of Rhodes, Samos, and Santorini. The main white grapes of Greece are Savatiano (the most widely planted of all varieties), ASSYRTIKO, Mavrodaphne, Moscophilero, Robola (RIBOLLA), and Rhoditis. Red varieties include AGIORGITIKO (also called St. George and used in the well-known Neméa wines), Liatiko, Limnio, Mandilaria, Romeiko, and the highly respected XINÓMAVRO—used to make Naoussa. Also planted in large quantities are MALVASIA, used to make a MALMSEY-style wine called Monemvasia, and MUSCAT, which makes a delicious DESSERT WINE.

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