Greek Week – In search of Greek wine

Today, I’m swapping blog posts with Gretchen Roberts, an amusing little New World wine writer with hints of berries and peppery undertones. Her blog, Everyday Wine, takes the snob factor out of this potentially pretentious beverage. Since the only Greek wine I’ve had is Retsina, which ranked just above licking a pine tree, I asked Gretchen to find the perfect glass to match this week’s Hellenic theme. As usual, Gretchen delivers stellar information that’s easy to swallow.

Meanwhile, I’m talking whisky finishing on her blog. Stop by for a visit and find out what Andrew and I have brewing in the future.

In Search of Greek Wine

When you’re craving a glass of vino, Greece is probably not the first appellation that comes to mind. But whenever you eat food from an old-world wine-producing area, an almost foolproof match is a local wine, since most wine styles developed to complement the area’s cuisine. Greece is no exception, even if you haven’t ever heard of its wines or you can only remember one or two bad experiences with Retsina, that resinated white wine made for thousands of years reminiscent of pine sap (and a rather acquired taste).

Greece has more than 300 indigenous, ancient grape varieties, about 70 percent of which are white, and many of which can trace their lineage back to ancient Greece, the birthplace of wine culture. Think of classic Greek ingredients: Olives. Olive oil. Lemons. Garlic. Feta. Tomatoes. Spinach. Lamb. Greek white wines are perfect complements to these foods with their light, racy, refreshing taste and lovely floral aromas.

So how do you choose a wine to go with your souvlaki or Herbed Greek Soup? Greek wine can be intimidating with the unfamiliar names and crazy letters on the bottle, but don’t worry. For one thing, it’s not super-easy to find, and if you do find some, there won’t be aisles upon aisles of selection. Chances are the wine buyer will have ordered it because he likes it, and he’ll be able to give you the 411 on what to choose and why.

In honor of Greek week, I bought two bottles of Greek wine and sent my husband, Derek, down to the hole-in-the-wall Greek restaurant that makes fabulous, cheap food, scored a 100 on the Department of Health rating, and…ready for this?…operates out of a gas station. It’s the kind of place you wouldn’t take visitors, but that you know is one of the best-kept secrets in your city (no, I’m not giving out the name. Finders keepers!). Derek picked up stuffed grape leaves, gyros, spanakopita, and Greek-style salad to go with the Achaia Clauss Blanc Demestica (a white wine), and we sipped on the tawny Port-like Achaia Clauss Mavrodaphne of Patras red, a dessert wine, after our fill of food. Both the wines were distinctively different from classic varietals–if we’d done a blind tasting I never would have pinned the Demestica for, say, a Pinot Grigio–and interesting in their own right. Neither blew me away, but Derek is still sipping on the Demestica as I type. “Greek wine rocks,” he says.

Will Greek wine rock your world? Go buy a bottle before you roll up your sleeves to make one of Charmian’s recipes. Even if Greek wine doesn’t fill you with agape, trying new food and wine is all about the adventure.