The estate of Kyriakos Koroniotis was our destination for our second full day. Situated just 25 minutes away from Nafplio, the winery is situated close to the PDO areas of Nemea and Mantineia. Kyriakos was a chemical engineer in both the UK and Holland for a number of years before setting up his winery in 1999 on family land. It is a compact winery producing around 80,000 bottles per year with some of his own vineyards close to the property as well some fruit being sourced from other growers. He is a charming and genial host who delivered some great insights into his philosophy and simplified many aspects of viticulture and winemaking into manageable sound bites.
His Malvasia was crisp and aromatic; the Assyrtiko was flavourful and full of minerality; the rose was delicate yet structured and the PDO Nemea was yet another great example of the Agiorgitiko grape.
We rounded off the tasting with a full bodied Syrah which while youthful showed great potential.
It was then a two hour drive to Diakopto – a small village heading in the direction of Patras on the north Peloponnese coast. Our destination was Tetramythos winery – a very highly regarded estate that is considered one of the best in Greece, with a fabulous position high up on the hill overlooking more hills and glimpsing the Corinthian gulf as well.
Panagiotis Papagiannopoulos is the head oenologist and he has a clear vision to make naturally fermented wines from their organic vineyards.
We were hosted Melitini – one of the assistant winemakers – and we received one of the most concise and precise explanations of the winery philosophy and winemaking approach. We discussed Retsina in the cellar and then moved to their wonderful dining room for the tasting and lunch.
All the wines are natural yeast ferments and were delicious. An aromatic Roditis, crisp Malagouzia, a Retsina made in Amphora that everyone really enjoyed, a Black of Kalyvrata – a local grape that produces a really light fresh red and a fabulous 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon that showed what is capable with this international grape at relatively high altitude.
Lunch was a home prepared salad, fennel pie, roast lamb and potatoes and a rich sour cherry compote that complemented our final wine – an unfortified Mavrodaphne of Patras – a classic sweet red of the region.
Another fabulous day!