When and where did winemaking in Greece likely begin?
- History of Greek wine begins on Crete with Minoan civilization
- Likely received instruction from Egypt around 2500 BC
- Viticulture spread from Crete to Santorini
- Greeks are responsible for spreading viticulture from Crete and Santorini, up through mainland Greece, throughout the Mediterranean and Black Sea, up the Danube almost as far as Austria
What are the origins of Retsina?
- Early Greeks traded wine
- Wine was always cut with water, sometimes sea water and often mixed with a range of ingredients, from herbs to spices to honey
- Wine was transported in amphorae made from clay
- Containers were often sealed with pine resin
- Origin of today’s Retsina
When did wine stop being diluted with water and barrels were introduced?
Christian Byzantine Empire introduced barrels in the 6th century
- Sweet wines from grapes dried on straw became popular
- Stopped diluting wine with water
What events caused the Greek wine industry to suffer?
- 11th Century, Venetians were granted favorable trading status crippling the Greek wine industry
- Ottoman Turks took over in 1400 and wine industry continued to perish
– Vineyards were abandoned - Retreating armies in the Greek Independence war, 1831-1832, burned vineyards on their way back to Turkey
What was a major export of Greece before phylloxera?
Raisins!
How did Greece replace wine production during phylloxera?
- When Phylloxera wiped out vineyards in Europe, some Greeks made from raisins steeped in water
- During 1880s, Greece raisins went from 24,000 to 114,000 hectares
- Mostly in the Peloponnese
- When France recovered, they outlawed Greek Raisin wine
when did Phylloxera arrive in Greece?
1889
- Didn’t reach Crete until 1970s
In 2016 was percentage of Greek production was Retsina?
7-7.5%
When did bottling become common in Greece?
1950s and 1960s
When did the first wine laws in Greece get passed?
First wine laws, modeled France, were passed in 1969 and 1970
What companies were spearheading quality and modern production methods in the 50s and 60s?
Boutari
Achaia Clauss
Kambas
Kourtakis
Tsantali
Domaine Porto Carras
When Greece join the EU?
1981
How is Retsina made?
- Production spiked when it became the “drink of Greece” when tourism spiked in the 1950s
- Today the resin is from aleppo pine trees and steeped during the first half of fermentation with a sort of tea bag
- Resin must account for 0.15 to 1.0% of wine’s final volume
- One of only two traditional PGIs
– Verdea is other - Mostly in central Greece
- Must be produced exclusively from the Savatiano and Roditis varieties
- Roditis, pink-skinned, can be used to create a rose of Retsina called Kokkinelli
Someone is making a retsina pet nat…
Which appellations can label Greece?
- 15 different appellations can put it on the label
– Gialtra, Evia, Karystos, Viotia, Thebes, Halkida, Megara, Attica, Pallini, Pikermi, Spata, Mesogia, Markopoulos, Peania, and Koropi.
What are the traditional PGIs in Greece?
Verdea
- Oxidized white wine from the Ionian island Zakynthos
Retsina
- Can be produced in 15 locations
- Cannot be labeled with a vintage
What are the most planted grapes in Greece?
90% are divided among 300 indigenous varieties
- Savatiano (16.52%)
- Roditis (14.34%)
- Agiorgitiko (5.28%)
- Liatiko (3.85%)
- Xinomavro (3.44%)
- Muscat of Hamburg (3.13%)
- Assyrtiko (3.12%)
Stats…
ha?
Growers?
Wineries?
Hecoliters?
Cases?
Rank in producer?
Percentage of worlds wine?
61,500 ha of vines
160,000 growers
1,100 wineries
2.5 million hectoliters
28 million cases
16/17th largest producer world wide
1% of the world’s wine
What parallels is Greece located within?
34th and 42nd parrallels
What countries border Greece?
Bordered to the north
- Albania
- Bulgaria
- Turkey
- North Macedoni
What percentage of Greece is covered in mountains?
70%
- 3rd most mountainous country after Switzerland and Austria
What are the major mountains in Greece?
Pindos
- Forms the spine of Greece
- Southernmost extension of the central Alps
- Extend down from the north, through Peloponnese and under the sea
– Occasionally surfaces as islands
Mount Olympus
- 3,000 m, 9,850 ft
– Greece’s tallest mountain
- Historic home of the gods
What are the wine producing islands of Greece?
Ionian Islands
- Lefkada
- Cephalonia
- Zakynthos
Crete
Aegean Islands
- Cyclades Islands
– Santorini
– Paros
- Dodecanese Islands
– Rhodes
- Northern Aegean Islands
– Samos
– Lemnos
What are the continental winegrowing regions of Greece?
Regions of Continental Greece
- Thrace
- Madedonia
- Epirus
- Thessaly
- Central Greece / Sterea Ellada
- Attica
- Peloponnese
Describe the climate of Greece
Predominately Mediterranean
- Abundant sunshine
- Hot, dry summers
- Mild winters
