Non-commercial but emotional post, long – a Greek wine

Being a small-d democrat, I’ve loved Greece forever, after all they invented my favorite form of government. First tasted Greek wines in my ‘teens. I don’t remember what, but it had to be Boutari, as they dominated the market. The wines were OK or better, but not where I was focused.

Attention returned when I was (theoretically) a chaperone on my son’s class trip there in the mid ‘90’s (the school headmistress explained that on these trips, ‘chaperone’ translated to ‘no deaths’; anything and everything else was fine; Whew!). Athens was getting the Olympics in 2004! I went back the following year to start importing some Greek wines.

After the class trip, I mentioned this to my friend Lucie Morton, who told me that she was consulting for a Greek-American who was planting a vineyard on Crete. She introduced me to Ted Manousakis, who immigrated at the age of 11 and has had a number successful business careers. In the mid-80’s, he went home and in 1993 planted his first vineyards. His brand is ‘Nostos’, a Greek word related to ‘nostalgia’. Lucie suggested he plant Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre and Roussanne’. Nobody was thinking indigenous varietals then.

I became friends with Ted and started importing his wines, along with a good handful of other producers. My goal was to get 50 stores nationwide to promote Greek wines around the Olympics.

I quickly learned two things:

1. No Greek-American was going to buy Greek wine from a guy named Kravitz. Bye-bye restaurant or ‘Greektown’ business.
2. Olympics or not, nobody cared about Greek wines.
   I fell just a bit short of my goal, with 8 stores, not 50, going for the program.

I stopped importing Greek wines, had a few cases of Ted’s in the basement, consumed them all but one bottle: It is vintage dated, but I’m afraid the neck label fell off and I don’t remember. I do remember that it was the first varietal wine that Ted bottled, and the remaining label reads ‘Nostos Sirah’. I think it has to be 1998, 1999 or 2000. I will write and ask Ted.

It’s been on the rack in my basement for almost 20 years. I’d look at it, time and again, assume ‘nah, dead’, and pass it by.
In plague mode, I unearthed a leg of lamb from the basement freezer, which I rarely visit. I date things when I freeze them, and this is not even five years old! I thought it was time to disinter the Nostos. I brought up a backup, assuming somewhere between dead and deadest. I’m stunned!

[?v] Nostos Sirah – ~20 years old, vintage hopefully to be determined, but probably 1998 - 2000.
Almost black, almost opaque, no bricking.
Aromas are moderately intense, with black cherries and raspberries, something a little rustic. This smells a bit like Cornas, but has more garrigue and a little less mineral.
The palate is powerful, with excellent intensity, iron solidity and muscle, without an ounce of fat. The label reads 12%. I believe it! The acidity is fresh and kicking, softens slightly in the glass but is still prominent. There are moderate tannins, not fully refined. The flavors are pure, powerful black fruit. The finish is about half a minute. This is really excellent wine, tastes no more than 10 years old. A stunning and so very welcome surprise. Not sure this will improve, but I really wish I had at least one more bottle. Rated 93.

Dan Kravitz


PS from a Hellenophile:
Everybody’s heard of the Acropolis. Nobody’s heard of the Areopagus, if old vague history is true an infinitely more important place.

Thanks. I have had the wines within a year of arrival, and thought quite good, but never hung on to a bottle. Seems I should have done.

I like Assyrtiko, Santorini, never has a Greek red. Good story.

Hey Dan, I too understand the whole “nobody cares” for Greek wines. I’ve been selling them for 7 years now here in Panama. At first it was nearly impossible, but they’ve caught on little by little. For me, it’s the best place for whites and roses… reds still need some work but there are many a gem out there. From Crete I really enjoy Economou, especially his Sitia red and his Assyrtiko.

It’s pretty much vice versa for me. Not taking the spectacular Santorini Assyrtikos into account, not too many Greek whites have impressed me that much. However, most of the Greek reds are right up my alley - as long as they are made from local varieties. Often relatively low in alcohol with high acidity and a healthy amount of tannins. I’ve been less impressed with the wines made from international cultivars, however.

Thanks for sharing this story.

Greek wines really have a sense of place, a big plus in my book. I will go along with the idea that indigenous grapes are more interesting than using international ones in most cases but they can be interesting as a blend component.

Xinomavro in particular does the trick for me. Sort of a “poor man’s Barolo”.

One of the places I want to do a lot more learning about. And a Kravitz 93 is nothing to sneeze at for sure! Thanks for the terrific story, Dan.

I was very impressed with Greek wines when I traveled there in 2014. The Funky Gourmet (funny name, but great restaurant) restaurant in Athens started my journey. Had a Gaia assyrtikos that was pretty good. The Boutari ximomarvio was a reserve and blew us away.

Then, went to Santorini and had a tasting at Sigalas. Their vin santo is great! Their assrytikos was even better than Gaia’s. Then we had a tour and meal at Boutari. Both red and whites were very good values.

When I came back, the Sigalas assyrtikos was around $25 a bottle. The last ones I saw a while back were pushing $40. Good value for $25, not so much at $40. Always wondered why we don’t see more Greek wine.

Sigalas is great all the way around. Their vin santo was my favourite and I tasted widely all over the island. Argyros vin santo is pretty damn good as well.

I remember having a white Nostos with you at a wine dinner when we traded Pegaus. I bought a bunch of bottles of it from, I think, Macarthur’s and quite enjoyed them, but never found it again.

And any reader of Milton knows what the Areopagus is.

Xinomavro in particular does the trick for me. Sort of a “poor man’s Barolo”.
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Yet still another anecdote: I did a charity luncheon featuring Laurence Feraud of Pegau at Aureole in NY, this goes back probably about 20 years. A fabulous event that raised money for 10,000 meals served by my local Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program in Brunswick, Maine. Aureole did the luncheon at cost and pulled out all stops. Members of the Parker wine board attended. There were 10 seats, Laurence and her then husband, me, seven people donating to charity. It was not a cheap meal.
We started with white, we ended with Pegau. In between I did a blind tasting of three red wines. I worked hard to load the dice.
Just as Piedmont Nebbiolo is often compared to Burgundy Pinot Noir, so is Greek Naoussa Xinomavro put in the same grouping by the very few people who have heard of or tasted it. The three reds included a Grand Cru Burgundy (from a good vintage and a mediocre producer), a Barolo (from a fine producer in a poor vintage) and a Naoussa (from a top grower in a top vintage). The Greek wine won, as I knew it would. I handed the brown-bagged bottles to three people at the table to unwrap and read the labels. I gave the Greek wine (with its Greek label) to a guy I liked to tease. Not only couldn’t he read it, he didn’t even have the wit to say “This is Greek to me”.

Dan Kravitz

Jonathan,

Thanks for the memories.

“And any reader of Milton knows what the Areopagus is.”

I’ve never read Milton, but I’ve never been to Greece without walking up those worn, slick steps to the acre of rubble on the Areopagus, where democracy was born.

Dan Kravitz

Would love to see more Greek wines available in the US. One thing I have noticed is that their pricing seems to be marching upward at a pretty good clip. That being said I had a Greek salad tonight(tomatoes, olives, cucumber, red onion, lemon, olive oil, oregano, and sheep feta) with a homemade focaccia bread and ouzo. Love ouzo with Greek food.

I had experience on Boutari and Gaia only when I visited Santorini, but had heard so much praise about Sigalas.

Sure, they were pretty good. But I don’t understand the hype; to me, their wines were pretty average compared to the overall (very high) quality of Santorini wines.

Coversely, I hadn’t heard anything about Argyros before visiting the island and I was blown away by their range of wines when I visited the winery. Their Assyrtiko whites are easily some of the greatest around and I’d say their 20 and 12 Vinsantos are probably the best money can buy.

I was also very positively surprised by Artemis Karamolegos. A large range of different wines at slightly lower price point than most Santorini wines, but the best ones were easily among my favorite Santorini wines.

Otto, I completely agree with Argyros - I fell in love with their whites and felt like the vinsantos were an incredible value. I thought Hatzidakis whites were fantastic too. Curious any others you’d recommend there?

Unfortunately I never managed to visit Hatzidakis, but I’ve had some of their Assyrtikos every now and then and they certainly are some of the most impressive. Very singular style.

It’s hard to say which wines are available and where, so these recommendations are based more on when visiting the island.

• Art Space: a small naturalist producer located a stone’s throw from Argyros. Somewhat funky stuff that are rather weird at their worst and stunning at their best. Not all their wines are super, but their entry-level Assyrtiko was definitely the best entry-level Assyrtiko I tasted.
• Artemis Karamolegos: great wines and solid value throughout the range. Introduced some positively tough and unapologetic skin-contact Assyrtiko wines into their range very recently.
• Canava Roussos: the oldest winery on the island. Specializes in making very old-school dry and sweet wines that are aged for very long periods of time before released. Some stunning dry reds, like the Caldera.
• Gaia: terrific and ageworthy Assyrtiko wines that really call for cellaring. The entry-level Thalassitis is very lean and sinewy upon release, requiring some age. The oak-aged Thalassitis can be a bit too oaky when young, but becomes wonderfully Burgundian with age. The Assyrtiko Wild Ferment is a very lovely, complex take on the basic Thalassitis that only gains depth if left to age.
• Koutsoyannopoulos / Volcan Wines: aka. the wine museum. The basic-level wines are good, but perhaps not that memorable. However, they make remarkable higher-tier wines like the complex Nikteri, impressive Ksera Homata single vineyard Assyrtiko and the Kamaritis, aka. “red Vinsanto”.
• Santo Wines: aka. the Santorini co-op. Not really a producer I’d recommend, since most of their stuff is pretty bland and uninteresting. However, their Nykteri certainly gets quite rewarding with age and the oak-aged Grande Reserve is surprisingly well-done and Burgundian compared with the overall “oaked Assyrtiko” style that can get quite clumsy and over-oaked at times.

Milton’s essay on free speech is named Areopagitca after a speech given by someone on the Areopagus.