Friday took us north of Nafplio to the outskirts of the Nemea PDO and then towards the Patras region on the northern Peloponnese coast.
The small, family owned estate of Kyriakos Koroniotis was our first stop. Kyriakos was a chemical engineer for much of his career and worked in the UK and the Netherlands. In 1990 he decided to set up a winery on family land and applied his scientific training to the task in hand. He owns vineyards as well as sourcing fruit from contract growers. He is passionate about terroir and was very keen to experiment with a number of different grape varieties to see what worked best with his local terroir.
After an engaging discussion in the vineyard we settled into his winery for the tasting. Kyriakos is a very entertaining host with a great sense of humour and is very clear in his beliefs about viticulture and how to make good wine. Malvasia, Assyrtiko, a Rosé made from Moschfilero and a Syrah and Merlot featured in our tasting.
From Koroniotis we headed north towards Corinth and along the coast before turning off up the mountains towards a small village called Diakopto. This is the location the esteemed Tetramythos winery. Set up by the Spanos brothers in 2004 and with top oenologist Panagiotis Papagiannopoulos at the winemaking helm, this estate has established a top class reputation in both Greece and worldwide. They export 85% of their production.
Winemaker Melitini hosted our visit and, as ever, she delivered a superbly succinct explanation of many aspects of winemaking as we toured the winery. It was great to see a truck load of grapes arrive, watch the crusher destemmer in action and the resultant mass of grapes in the pipe straight up into the press.
Our tasting was another fabulous exploration of indigenous grapes: Roditis, Malagouzia, Retsina (made from Roditis) Black of Kalavryta, unoaked Agiorgitiko and a wonderful sweet Mavrodaphne.
A super day, with some dozing on the coach on the way back to Nafplio. Recharged, many of us wandered out in the evening to enjoy the seaside atmosphere.