Another beautiful morning on the harbour side, we boarded the coach and headed off, heading north to Arcadia, where the regions of Nemea and Mantinia are situated, then further north to the mountains beside the Gulf of Corinth.
With a career in Chemical Engineering and time spent in the UK and the Netherlands, Kyriakos Koroniotis came back to Greece in 1990 to develop his eponymous winery on family land. Kyriakos is very engaging and we took a stroll in his experimental vineyard while he introduced us to his philosophy on viticulture and winemaking. As might be expected from his science background, he has kept meticulous records on the weather conditions of every harvest and was looking confident at the prospect of a good vintage in 2023 based on the current state of the leaves and shoots on the vines.
Inside the winery, we sat down to tasting of five contrasting wines. Kyriakos sources fruit from both his own vineyards and contract growers.
An aromatic Moschofilero was followed by a delicious food-orientated Assyrtiko and a very delicate Rose. His only PDO wine is an Agiorgitiko from Nemea which was fascinating to contrast with the wines from Palivos and Semeli. We rounded off the tasting with his favourite grape – Syrah. A really rich, bold example with great ability to age.
From Koroniotis, we drove ninety minute drive north and west as we skirted the northern coast of the Peloponnese before heading into the mountains of Diakopto. Here you find the stunning winery of Tetramythos. Set up by the Spanos brothers in 1999, Tetramythos has become one of Greece’s leading wineries and exports 85% of its production. Winemaker Melitini hosted our visited our visit assisted by head winemaker Panayiotis. Just like last year, Melitini delivered a wonderfully succinct insight into the philosophy of the estate as we toured through the winery and down into the cellar. Minimal intervention, organic certification, low use of sulphur all deliver a unique style of wine.
We combined the tasting with a delicious rustic lunch. They focus on indigenous grapes such as Roditis, Malagousia, Mavro Kalavrytino, Agiorgitiko and sweet Mavrodaphne.
A quiet coach journey home, followed by a lovely evening in beautiful Nafplio