Why Greece is the most exciting wine scene in Europe now

Plus: what (else) I've been drinking this week

Greece's kaleidoscope of grapes: L-R - tilling fields at Douloufakis, Crete; Alexandra Manousakis of Manousakis Winery, Crete; harvesting young xinomavro grapes, Magoutes Vineyard, Siatista

THIS week’s tasting from leading Greek wine and food importer Maltby and Greek was a joy. But quite apart from being an opportunity to taste terrific wines (and amazing olive oil and cheeses in their range) it also provided a snapshot of a Greek wine scene that is changing at astonishing speed.

Greece was for many years a backwater of the wine world. Despite Greek wine’s roots in antiquity, up until the 1980s there was limited investment or innovation. Nor was there a wine culture like that of France or Italy. Greeks drank local wine with food, but not on its own: there were no wine bars or tastings in Athens or anywhere else. Meanwhile for many foreigners, Greek wine meant only the pungent, resinated retsina that you drank there on raucous holiday evenings.

That started to change in the 1990s, as some Greek winemakers trained abroad, and especially in the 2000s, when the arrival of the Euro and lower interest rates drove a surge of investment. Scores of new wineries sprang up, especially in the North, many planting international grape varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc. And the affluent Athenian middle classes lapped up their pricey boutique wines (more than one in three of Greece’s 10.6 million people live in greater Athens.)

It all came tumbling down with the 2008 financial crisis, which hit Greece with a ferocity unseen in northern Europe. Some wineries went bust and the domestic wine market collapsed. The ones that bounced back fastest were, disproportionately, those who innovated and chased exports. Since 2017 – barring the disruption of the COVID pandemic – they have been joined by many others: both the Greek economy and its wine industry are now in good health.

When I spent two weeks in Athens in autumn 2021 – part of my long-running and deeply frustrating attempts to improve my Greek beyond “Two beers, please” – the excitement in the wine world was palpable. Recession-era belt-tightening had fuelled a rise in wine bars: it’s more affordable than the cocktails that were all the rage during the pre-crisis years.

Fanny Kolaki, an exporter and consultant sommelier, told me then: “Wine bars are the places that have educated people about what to expect from an Assyrtiko or a Malagousia.”

Those are just two of Greece’s better-known indigenous grape varieties, of which there are hundreds. This week, for example, I enjoyed Douloufakis’s fresh white “Dafnios” Vidiano from Crete; Ousyra’s Potamisi (white) from the island of Naxos; Paros Farming Community’s “Seiradi” Mandilari (red) from that island; and Magoutes’s savoury, almost tomatoey Moschomavro red from the obscure northern mountain area of Siatista.

That list gives a hint as to how widespread the new Greek wine revolution is, coming from almost every corner of the land. And the fact that Kolaki is a specialist in natural and skin-contact (“orange”) wines is itself testimony to the pace of change: both were unknown in Greece a decade ago.

Markus Stolz, a German exporter long based in Athens, tells me: “If you look at wines being crafted on organic principles, orange wines, wines being matured on their lees for extended periods of time, use of native yeasts, indigenous varieties and so on, Greek wines are at the forefront of the global market.”

“It’s changing so fast,” Alexandra Manousakis confirmed at the tasting this week. She makes wine with her husband near Chania, Crete. But their readiness to innovate has taken them in a slightly different direction from the current trend towards Greek grape varieties: as well as wines made from local whites Thrapsathiri and Romeiko, I enjoyed her “Nostos” Roussanne and Syrah cuvees, vines they planted because they realised these Rhone varieties would do well on their property’s soils.

That kind of spirit of adventure seems to be appealing to British drinkers. Greek wine exports to the UK in 2022 were up 14 per cent on the previous year and more than doubled over the previous five years. Wine Society Greek buyer Matthew Horsley told me last year that their sales of Greek wine soared during the pandemic and have stayed high since. Sales in the US are also expanding fast.

Of course for many of us, one of the joys of Greek wine is the place it comes from: it’s bound up for me with a joyous cuisine, vibrant culture, passionate people – and a beautiful but tricky language. Perhaps it’s more important that at every Greek tasting, I learn something new – and usually taste at least two grapes I hadn’t heard of before. And if, like me, you get extra enjoyment from sipping a Peloponnese Moschofilero because of the way it transports you back to a sunny terrace in Monemvasia, why not?

What I’ve been drinking this week

Bohórquez Cardela Crianza 2018, Ribera del Duero – I first tasted the new second wine from this leading Ribera estate with Javier Bohórquez last August and then recently snapped some up on the current Wine Society offer, at which it is very good value. Smooth, rich, spicy, nicely balanced – gorgeous, though it won’t have quite the staying power of Bohórquez’s first wine (The Wine Society, £18 currently on offer at £14.95.)

Tenuta Aquilaia Ciliegiolo 2019, Maremma Toscana – Ciliegiolo has in the past been a slightly obscure Tuscan red grape used mainly for blending, though it’s enjoying something of a resurgence. This example from the Maremma in western Tuscany shows off its bright, fresh cherry fruit well - tasty (the name comes from the Italian for cherry, ciliegia) (from FiveO’ClockSomewhere, Kwoff, NYWines, Symposium, from £12.21.)

Domaine Dumaine “La Croix du Verre” 2019, Crozes-Hermitage – in a great if tricky vintage in the northern Rhône, Olivier Dumaine made beautiful red Crozes. It’s very dark and ripe but still beautifully balanced: brooding bramble fruit and a firm graphite core (was Wine Society en primeur, £15.67/bt delivered, currently N/A UK.)

• Transparency declaration: I attended the Maltby and Greek tasting as the company’s guest.