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TNWG Wine Times: Ep 45: Wines of Mainland Greece

Good morning all!


A very quick announcement first of all - the OPENING of The Northern Travel Guy for all your travel needs - both business and leisure - let me make it a seamless experience! 

It's that time again when we take a deep dive into wines from a summer holiday location but first just a quick reminder - and you need to be QUICK, because tickets are almost sold out again for The Wine and Cheese Network.


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Tickets can still be bought here but BE QUICK!



💥😲👉 Not only this, BUT I am also announcing that there will be in June (for your diaries - Thursday 26th June) a SPECIAL SUMMER AFTERPARTY WINE AND CHEESE NETWORK!!


Tickets will go on sale shortly, so stay tuned for June's Summer Party Special, before we take a two month break and come back in September.


Also, SHEFFIELD WINE WEEK is coming....


Sheffield Wine Week is the 18-22 June and it is in its second year. This will have events across the city and I am hosting TWO of them - with tickets on sale now:

👉 Thursday 19th June 7-9PM - Over the Yard Arm Bar - Nether Edge, 335-337 Abbeydale Rd, Nether Edge, Sheffield S7 1FS, UK


"BLIND WINE TASTING"


Come and join the fun as you become the wine judges. We are not blind folded but we won't know the wines we are tasting until after we have tasted them!


Tickets ON SALE NOW @ £25pp





Wines of Mainland Greece


So we are going to concentrate on the mainland, rather than the islands in this episode (take a look back at previous editions for some island wines). 


Greek Wine - Brief History


Greece has had some of the earliest known writings when it comes to winemaking and research suggests it was making wine for at least 5,000 years. However, the 'Golden Age' was around 500-300 BCE when the Greek empire was spreading across the Med, taking its winemaking culture with it.


Greece has in history become at one time part of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire - and with it, it has taken parts of all when considering their development of winemaking. One thing though that still continues to this day is Retsina, wine which has had an additive to it - that of pine resin.


This is remarkable but also potentially held Greek wines back in modern times. For most of the 20th century, despite attempts to revive the industry, Greece was often seen from the outside as a creator of cheap, poorly made wines with Retsina as one of the reasons.


However, this has changed! I am a HUGE advocate for Greek wines and by the 1970s, small batch producers were starting to make decent wines. By the 1980s a rapid rise in producer numbers and by the early 2000s they were exporting, although 2008 financial crash did not help the country, fortunately in the last decade we have seen this re-energised.


In 2021, there were 64,900 hectares of vineyards producing grapes for wine. 



Greek Grape Varietals


One of the great reasons that I love Greek wines, is the fact that they grow indigenous grape varietals, accounting for 90% of all plantings, in total, there are quite possibly around 300 varietals! Here are the key ones below to look out for:


🍇RODITIS (White) - the second most planted grape varietal. Grown throughout Greece, it is pink skinned, produces high yields, used in blending but also single varietal in the Peloponnese region - medium bodied, high acidity, melon type notes.


🍇SAVATIANO (White) - most planted grape varietal. The 'workhorse' of Greek wine production. Most common in retsina. Subtle aromas of citrus, pear, stone fruit and nuttiness.


🍇ASSYRTIKO (White) - Best known and prized white grape, known in Santorini but also on the mainland. High acidity, high alcohol, can age well. Can produce sweet wines like Vinsanto as well as dry - citrus, stone and tropical fruit, smoky/flintiness too. Can also be aged in oak.


🍇 MOSCHOFILERO (White) - Mainly planted in Mantinia in Peloponnese. Produces aromatic wines with notes of citrus, rose petals and spices, quite a lot like Muscat. High acidity, light bodied and low alcohol.


🍇MALAGOUSIA (White) - Very small plantings. Medium acidity, medium body with good complexity. Notes of stone fruits and flowery tendencies. 


🍇AGIORGITIKO (Red) - most planted black varietal. Can produce both light bodied, fruit forward fruity styles, but also can create more complex, full bodied reds and even quality rose wines too. Medium acidity, medium to high tannins, medium alcohol. Ripe red fruit, even jammy as well as sweet spices. Especially known in the Peloponnese and look out for PDO Nemea wines.


🍇 XINOMAVRO (Red) - considered the prized black varietal. Grown all over northern Greece and is most famous in Naoussa in northern Macedonia. A lot like Nebbiolo for you Italian red drinkers. This grape benefits typically from long ageing, as the tannins can be a little grippy to start with in the early years. Complexity is amazing though - think flowers, herbs, spices, leather and earthiness in a glass. It's a wonderful construct. Keep an eye out for this!


Retsina 


Okay so this might give everyone bad connotations when you tell them there is pine resin in your wine. BUT, actually the Greeks have spent many a year perfecting this and the modern day efforts are tourist favourites. There are regulations on levels of pine, minimum acidity levels, permitted alcohol levels etc- so give it a try!



⚠️ TNWG HOT TIPS ⚠️


Okay so here are my hot tips for Mainland Greece with Wine:


  • Head to TWO main regions for the BEST wine areas in Greece: In the North, head to the region called North Macedonia and specifically within that region, look to Naoussa and Amynteo. If in the south of Greece, head to the Peloponnese and find Nemea and Mantinia regions.

  • Try Retsina -you never know it may surprise you, but it's also worth doing just to say you have given it a go and something which has stood the years of time.

  • My personal favourite grape varietals - Xinomavro and Assyrtiko - both should be sought out in the UK, even if you are not travelling to Greece. 



🗞️ LATEST DRINKS INDUSTRY ARTICLES 🗞️


A super article around what is happening this year with the Bordeaux En Primeur - both the merits and the less so, on the global wine demand and supply and the problems that lie ahead.


OTHER ARTICLES OF NOTE THAT CAUGHT MY EYE THIS WEEK:






📈 MARKETS IN BRIEF 📉


On the week (as at 22nd May 09:00 LDN) changes:

EQUITIES: ⬆️ FTSE 100 up 2.08%; ⬆️ DAX up 1.9%; ⬇️ S&P 500 down 0.43%; ⬇️ Nikkei 225 down 1.8%; ⬇️ Dow Jones down 0.5% (yet to open today).

COMMODITIES: ⬆️ Brent Oil up 1% ; ⬆️ Crude Oil up 0.5% ; ⬆️ Gold up 5.2%; ⬆️ Silver up 4.9%; ⬆️ Copper up 2.1%

BONDS (in yield terms): ⬆️ UK 2yrs higher 0.0625%; ⬆️ UK 10yrs higher 0.0765%; ⬇️ German 10yrs lower 0.0495%, ⬇️ US 2yrs lower 0.052%; ⬆️ US 10yrs higher 0.076.



It's been an interesting couple of weeks in markets (when is it not these days). The US economic slowdown view seems to have taken a short pause, as the fiscal expansion and lower than feared tariff levels are keeping bond yields elevated and pushing the long end of the US bond curve further out. It also means that more generally equity markets have had a resurgence and as a result the view to hold in our US heavy ETFs and equities was a good decision.


The UK brought with it a wave of inflation this week as the Core CPI reading came in above market consensus, headline inflation jumping to 3.5% YoY for the month of April, which does give some cause for concern (the services part was up 5.4%!). The BoE is likely to remain pretty cautious following this release, a June cut still looks very unlikely to me, however, post summer, watch this space!


GOLD! Wow, what a performance from the precious metal. Keeping the exposure to precious metals via ETFs, despite the fact that it is in over bought territory here. Global demand is just something that I don't wish to trade against so keep your exposure in metals for now, although I would expect, if we get a calm down post US credit rating downgrade and geopoliticals, that we see this come off highs somewhat near term.


Fine Wine - in case you missed it, I wrote a recent piece arguing that the proof is in the Bordeaux EP - which if you combine my piece with the one that is above as the weekly highlighted, you will make your own view on whether inception is now.



Here is my piece I wrote a couple of weeks ago, in case you missed it:



🏖️🏖️ And last but not least a reminder again, if you didn't see I have also opened up The Northern Travel Guy - for all your travel needs - both business and pleasure. So let me make travel a seamless experience!


That's all from me this week folks!


Cheers!


Andy a.k.a. The Northern Wine Guy

 
 
 

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