Our final tour of Greece for this year has begun and kicked off with a very relaxed dinner at Arapakos restaurant in Nafplio. As ever, the portions were generous, the wine flowed freely and there was a wonderful sense of anticipation at the prospect of exploring a whole new set of grapes and understanding the fast developing Greek wine industry.
Our first day took us a short 25 minute journey north of Nafplio to the Koroniotis winery. Kyriakos Koroniotis had a career in Chemical Engineering before taking over the family land and planting vineyards in 1999. He has created an excellent high quality reputation for his wines with excellent examples of Moschofilero, Agiorgitiko, Assyrtiko and Shiraz.
Kyriakos and his wife Georgia are great hosts and we got some excellent insights into his philosophy and approach to winemaking.
It was then a 90 minute journey north towards Corinth and along the coast to a village called Diakopto. Here we find the fabulous Tetramythos winery that is regarded as one of Greece’s top estates. As host was Meliniti, one of the winemakers, and she gave us a brilliantly concise and precise run down of the winery history and technical details of the machinations of the winery. They have a very strong organic approach with certified vineyards. All their wines are fermented using natural yeasts and they are proud of the local, indigenous grape varieties that they cultivate.
The winery is situated high up on a hill that overlooks the sea and their entertaining/dining room is a fabulous location to taste their wines and have lunch. Panagiotis , the head oenologist and one of Greece’s leading winemakers took over the tasting and talked us through the Roditis, Malagouzia, Retsina made in amphora, Black of Kalyrata and a 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon which were all delicious.
A super home cooked lunch followed with salad, cheeses, spinach pie and delicious roast lamb and potatoes.
We finished with their Mavrodaphne of Patras sweet wine accompanied by a reduced sour cherry compote that was divine!