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Greece, renascent Mediterranean wine producer with a particularly rich history of wine made in classical times from the 7th century bc and on in the Roman era (see Ancient Rome). Early Greek colonization led to the vine being taken to all parts of the Mediterranean, thus laying the foundations for viticulture and the whole later development of wine in this area. In modern Greece about 150,000 ha/370,000 acres are devoted to vines, only about half of them producing grapes for wine, drying grapes and table grapes being important to the agricultural economy. About 60 per cent of the annual wine production of between 4.5 and 5.0 million hl (132 million gal) is of white, often sweet, wine.
Wine was important in Greek society from the earliest times, forming part of the Greek cultural identity. The Ancient Greeks were aware that other societies, such as the Babylonians in Mesopotamia and the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt, made and drank wine, but for them it was a luxury, and they normally drank beer (a drink disparaged by Greek writers as inferior and fit only for foreigners) or else `wine' made from dates or lotus. Complete ignorance of viticulture was the mark of savages; so too was the drinking of undiluted wine, which was associated with northern barbarians such as the Scythians (in modern Crimea). Although evidence remains scanty, it is very likely that wine was part of the culture of Minoan Crete in the 2nd millennium bc: remains of grapes and of what are probably wine presses have been found by archaeologists at palaces and villas, and it is quite possible that some of the large storage jars found in the palace complexes contained wine rather than olive oil; an ideogram for `wine' has been identified in the early script Linear A, and artistic evidence suggests the use of wine in religious rituals. Given the links between Crete and Egypt in this period, the Minoans might be expected both to have learned viticulture from their neighbours and to have exported to supply the demand there and elsewhere in the Near East. In turn, Crete will have influenced contemporary Thira (modern Santorini), where vines and grapes are depicted on painted pottery. There is no doubt of the importance of wine in Mycenaean culture (c.1600-1150 bc) which followed and developed on the mainland from Minoan culture: evidence from Mycenae, Tiryns, and Sparta includes grape pips and residues of wine, as well as the seal of a jar bearing the impression of vine leaves, while the palaces have revealed many storage jars, including a complete cellar at Pilos which contained at least 35 large jars, some labelled as containing wine. The evidence of the Linear B script, preserved on clay tablets fired hard in the destruction of the palaces, confirms that wine was important: the palace records contain many references to it, and include words for `wine', `vineyard', and, apparently, `wine merchant', not to mention allusions to the god Dionysus. Finds of Mycenaean pottery abroad imply that they were exporting wine and oil to Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Cyprus, Sicily, and southern Italy, while the discovery of a few small Canaanite jars (the earliest amphorae) at Mycenae suggests that connoisseurs were also importing foreign wines. In the poetry of Homer and Hesiod, the earliest Greek literature, wine is an essential part of life. It is naturally drunk by Greek and Trojan heroes at their feasts, but also used in the rituals of sacrifice, prayer, and burial, to solemnize agreements, and for therapeutic purposes; it is also the human drink, whereas gods drink nectar. A depiction of the vintage, in an enclosed vineyard, is part of the encapsulation of human life on the shield which Hephaestus makes for Achilles (Iliad 18. 561 f.). Wine is the touchstone of civilization: even the Cyclopes in the Odyssey drink it, but without cultivating the vine, unlike the pleasure-loving Phaeacians, and, when offered the fine wine of Maron, Polyphemus swigs it neat until he falls into a stupor. Homer implies that the vine was widespread in Greece in his time, describing a number of places as `rich in vines' (including Phrygia: in this as in other respects the Trojans are as civilized as the Greeks), and he gives us our earliest reference to specific wines, Pramnian and Ismarian, while Hesiod mentions Bibline. Advice on viticulture forms part of Hesiod's Works and Days: he mentions pruning and the harvest, including drying the grapes before vinification to make early forms of dried grape wines. In the classical period, vines were grown throughout Greece, and, through colonization, the Greeks carried viticulture to Sicily and southern Italy (which the Greeks called Oenotria, `land of trained vines'), southern France, and the Black Sea. Some producers operated on a large scale, with extensive estates: we can infer the existence of vineyards of 8 to 10 ha and 30 ha/74 acres on the island of Thasos in the northern Aegean in the late 5th century bc and of one of about 12 ha in Attica in the middle of the 4th century, and Diodorus records a cellar at Acragas in Sicily with a storage capacity of 12,000 hl/317,000 gal and a vat holding 400 hl/10,500 gal (Library of History 13. 83). However, most viticulture was probably on a small scale, part of the normal peasant system of polyculture, which in Greece was founded on grain, vines, and olives; vines require more labour than cereals, but wine and grapes clearly played an important part in the Greek diet. Viticulture was also important to the economy of many cities, as is shown by the number of states whose coinage bears wine-related designs. Greek wine was traded within Greece, with Athens, the largest and richest city, offering the best market, and exported throughout the Mediterranean world, especially to Egypt, the Black Sea, Scythia, and Etruria (modern Tuscany). Soon the colonial cities began to produce and export their own wine. (See Celts for archaeological evidence of the geographical extent to which Greek wine and drinking rituals were adopted.) Amphorae from Marseilles are found along the southern coast of France and up the Rhone valley, while in the Crimea archaeology has revealed extensive estates, their vineyards protected from the prevailing winds by low walls and planted with indigenous vines which were gradually domesticated, rather than with imported varieties. The scale of the Greek wine trade can be inferred from the widespread finds of amphorae and the seals which indicate their origin. The richest evidence is from the island of Thasos, which took elaborate precautions to regulate its wine trade, both to maximize tax revenues and to prevent fraud which would damage its reputation; amphorae were required to be of standard sizes and were sealed with the name of an annual magistrate, which acted as a guarantee of authenticity; other states also used this system. Thasos also protected her commerce by forbidding her citizens to import foreign wine. No vine grown today can be confidently traced back to any Ancient Greek variety, although we know the names of 50 or more, some of which were cultivated in Italy in Roman times, and names such as Greco, Grechetto, and Aglianico (i.e. Helleniko) reflect popular traditions of continuity. Roman writers noted that the yields of Greek varieties were low, although their quality was good. In the 4th century bc the botanically expert Theophrastus was aware of the need to match varieties to soil type and mesoclimate, and recommended propagation by cuttings or suckering. A variety of training regimes was used: often vines were supported by forked props or trained up trees, but a few varieties naturally formed bushes, and sometimes plants were simply left to trail on the ground; training on trees meant climbing up, or using trestles, to pick the grapes. pruning was known to have an important effect on yields and quality, and land leases sometimes specify that the lessors be allowed to oversee it towards the end of a lease, as well as regulating the use of manure as fertilizer. The harvest was, as in modern Greece, early by European standards: Hesiod recommends early September. Vase paintings suggest that, in many cases, pressing took place near the vineyard: the grapes were trodden inside a handled wicker basket which in turn stood in a wooden trough with low legs, from which the juice ran through a spout into an earthenware vat sunk in a hole in the ground; sometimes a sieve was placed over the mouth of the vat. As pickers brought grapes in, they were added to the basket, while the treader held on to the basket handles or a ring or rope overhead (or a convenient vine) to keep his balance, and worked at crushing in time to a flute. There are also scenes of treading in the vat itself, in which case the skins and pips will not have been strained out, and the wine will have taken colour from the skins, an early form of pigeage. In either case, the vats will then have been covered and the juice taken for fermentation in jars of larger capacity (pithoi); these could be 3 m/10 ft high, with a mouth a metre across. Larger and more specialized establishments had permanent stone treading floors rather than wooden ones, but otherwise the process was the same; although the beam press was normally used for olives, there is no firm evidence for its use in wine production in classical Greece, and the screw press probably only appeared in Roman republican times. References to the drying of grapes in Hesiod and the Odyssey (see dried grape wines) suggest that this was the early norm, but in later times practices varied: a Lesbian wine, Protropon, was made from free-run juice, while in other cases grapes were deliberately harvested unripe to produce a wine with high acidity (Omphakias); fresh must itself was sometimes drunk, as was boiled must. Finally, the solids left after treading could be moistened with water and trodden again to yield a low-quality piquette called Deuterias or Stemphulites. Although wine was often transferred from the fermentation vessels once fermentation was over, it is clear that it had not been subjected to proper racking or fining since a sieve or strainer through which to pour the wine is a standard feature of the symposium, and although Theophrastus may refer to the addition of gypsum, which was later used for the purposes of both clarification and acidification, he describes this as an Italian practice. References to `strained wine' suggest that it was unusual, and the straining may have been done at the point of sale, rather than during production. The basic wine could be `improved' by various additives: the use of a small percentage of seawater or brine seems to have begun in the 4th century bc, apparently as a flavouring, although it probably also had preservative qualities, and the technique was associated with particular areas of production, notably the island of Kos. We also hear of the addition of aromatic herbs, to produce a sort of vermouth, and of perfume being added both in production and by the consumer, as well as of the use of boiled must and, on Thasos, of the addition of a mixture of dough and honey to produce a special cuvee for consumption on state occasions. blending of different wines was also practised: Theophrastus gives one example, a mixture of hard but aromatic wine from Heraclea with soft Erythraean (a salted wine) which lacks bouquet, and says that there are many other blends known to experts (see tasting, ancient history). Finished wine was normally stored in amphorae lined with resin or pitch (see resinated wines) to limit porosity, which will have affected the taste to some extent, and pitch was also used to secure the stopper, which was usually of pottery, although the use of cork was known. Amphorae of the classical period held between 20 and 75 l (5-20 gal), depending on their origin, and added 5-15 kg (11-33 lbs) to the total load. These commercial amphorae are, of course, to be distinguished from the much smaller painted pots, also called amphorae, which were used to present the wine when it was drunk. In the Odyssey (2. 340 f.), Telemachus had wine drawn off from the big pithoi in which it had been ageing into amphorae for his journey abroad. Homer also refers quite frequently to wine kept in wineskins, but in classical times skin bags were probably mainly filled for rapid consumption; despite being lighter and, perhaps, less fragile, they will have flavoured the wine, being usually made from the skin of a sheep or goat. At Athens, wine was mainly bought from wine sellers for immediate consumption: after the purchaser had sampled the wine, the required amount was ladled or siphoned from the amphora into a jug or small amphora which the purchaser usually provided: wealthier customers, however, and those holding parties, will have bought an amphora at a time. Evidence on price is scanty, but for imported wine of good quality, such as Chian or Mendean, at Athens in the 4th century bc a chous of about 3.25 l cost between a quarter of a drachma and 2 drachmas (a drachma being a day's wage for a craftsman). Of course, these were luxury wines, with prices to match: one Athenian, urged to improve his morals by the Areopagus, the Council of Elders, cited drinking Chian, along with keeping a mistress, as evidence of a life of blameless hedonism appropriate to a gentleman. See also merchants, ancient history. Some idea of the leading wines of classical Greece can be obtained from references in literature, particularly lyric poetry and the Athenian comic poets; these make it clear that in Athens, at least, there was a degree of connoisseurship, different poets singing the praises of different wines while disparaging their rivals. The most frequently praised wines are those of Thasos, Lesvos, Mende, and Khios (especially one called Ariousian), while those of Ismaros (in Thrace), Naxos, Peparethos (modern Skopelos), Acanthos and, from the 4th century, Kos were also admired. This makes it clear that, although other areas had their admirers, the regions which produced the best wines were, by general consent, the Aegean islands, particularly to the east, and Chalkidike (modern Khalkhidhikhi near Ch Carras, see below) and Thrace on the northern mainland. Two other much-praised wines, Pramnian and Bibline, are problematic. Pramnian, whose name goes back to Homer, is associated with a number of places-Lesvos, Smyrna, and the island of Ikaros (modern Ikaria, in the Dodecanese)-and indeed, according to Athenaeus, some considered it a generic name for dark wine, or long-lived wine; however, there was also a vine variety called Pramnian, and it seems most likely that Pramnian, which perhaps originated on Ikaria, came to be used as the name of wine of the style of the original, `neither sweet nor rich, but dry, hard and unusually strong', whether or not made from the original vine. In the case of Bibline, the problem is a confusion of names, since there was also Bybline wine, from Byblos in Phoenicia, which is highly praised for fragrance by the 4th century bc gastronome Archestratus; Bibline, however, took its name from a region in Thrace where it originated, and came from a vine called Bibline, which was apparently subsequently introduced elsewhere. Since scribes were prone to confuse the two, allusions cannot always be reliably attributed to one or the other, but it is plain that both had excellent reputations. On these interpretations, both Pramnian and Bibline will also fall within the top zone outlined above. In all cases, wines are praised in terms of their origins; we never hear of particular estates or producers as being superior. What was Greek wine like? First, it could be of three colours, white, black or red, and tawny, the last being less frequently mentioned; Homer's wine is always dark. Greeks were sensitive to aromas, and often speak of wines being fragrant; more specifically, they refer to wine as `smelling of flowers', an expression often almost equivalent to our bouquet, although the way in which the comic poet Hermippus talks of a mature wine `smelling of violets, roses and hyacinth' shows that it was not always metaphorical; the same passage attributes a scent of apples to Thasian wine. The sweetest wines were said to lack bouquet, which could, according to Theophrastus, be supplied by blending, spicing, or perfuming. In taste, wine is often praised as sweet, honeyed, ripe, and soft, and this must have appealed to the Greek palate, to judge from the production of passito, or dried grape wines, and even sweet wine further concentrated by boiling. Given the likely ripeness of the grapes, the limitations of natural yeasts, and, perhaps, the risk of stuck fermentation without temperature control, sweetness must have been the most frequent outcome. However, this was not always the case: as noted earlier, grapes were sometimes picked unripe, and some varieties, like Pramnian, were naturally more austere; one vine was allegedly called `smoky' because the wine was so sharp as to bring tears to the eyes, like smoke. Medical writers discussing the qualities of wines class them as dry or sweet white; and dry, sweet, or medium red/black, so there was obviously a wide range of styles. Given the vagaries of vinification, much Greek wine will not have lasted long, succumbing either to oxidation, which medical and scientific writers noticed and discussed as a form of decomposition, or to spoilage due to inadequate storage, the risk of which was noted by Aristotle. It is not surprising that the people of Thasos traded in vinegar as well as wine, and that sour wine was a regular cheap drink, especially since the risk of oxidation must have increased as a large jar was emptied. Nevertheless, some wines clearly aged, since old wine was highly regarded by the Greeks: `praise old wine, but the flowers of new songs,' said the poet Pindar, and comic poets noted that women preferred old wine but young men. The old wine praised by Hermippus (above) was described as sapros: literally, `rotten' or `decomposed', but obviously referring in the case of wine to the production of secondary flavours through ageing; older wine was also described as having `lost its bite'. We never find discussion of particular vintages (unlike Roman wines and specific vintages such as opimian wine mentioned by Roman writers), and there is little reliable evidence as to how long good wine might keep: Theocritus speaks of drinking four-year-old wine, perhaps from Kos, in the early 3rd century bc, and in the same era Peparethian wine was regarded as a slow developer in requiring six years to reach maturity, while the elder Pliny (in the 1st century ad) considered all foreign wines middle-aged at seven years old; comparisons with the wines of Ancient Rome, which evidently matured more slowly, might allow one to guess that few Greek wines lasted more than 10 years, a good age for a wine in the heroic age (Odyssey 3. 390-2), but not a very long time by modern standards, especially when we remember that the containers were very much larger than modern ones, so that the rate of development should have been proportionately reduced. Wine had many uses for the Greeks. It was of course important as a food and drink (it was doubtless often safer than water), and the symposium, which centred around the drinking of wine, was one of the most important Greek social forms. Wine was almost always drunk diluted with water: the ratio varied, normally ranging between 2 : 3 and 1 : 3, which would give a range in alcoholic strength of about three to eight per cent (roughly the same as British draught beer). Weaker mixtures are disparaged in comedy (and even 1 : 3 called for a good wine), but 1 : 1 was considered by some dangerous to the health, and the regular drinking of unmixed wine, a habit confined to barbarians, was believed by some Spartans to have caused the insanity and death of their King Cleomenes. The mixed wine was also normally cooled, sometimes in special pottery coolers; the very rich added snow. The medical uses of wine were numerous, and much discussed by medical writers. Its advantages as a pick-me-up, tonic, and analgesic were obvious, and by experience it became clear that certain wines were nourishing, diuretic, good for the digestion, and so on, but the qualities of different types were also discussed in terms of the four essential qualities (hot, cold, wet, dry) in order to decide how they should be used to correct imbalances in the bodily humours. There are occasional references to procedures for making wine-based medicines, either by adding drugs to the wine or by treating the vines with an appropriate agent, although these usually seem to be closer to folklore than science; certain wines also had the reputation of producing medical side-effects: those of Troizen (just across the Saronic Gulf from Athens), for example, were said to render the drinker sterile. The Greeks were also well aware of the hazards of consuming wine to excess, and Athenaeus mentions popular remedies for a hangover. After social aspects, however, the most important aspect of wine was its place in religion. A libation (sponde) of wine was offered whenever wine was drunk as a sort of first fruit (at the symposium different gods were invoked for each bowlful) and drink offerings were part of the formula for prayers; hence treaties and truces were referred to as spondai, because they were sanctified by prayers and libations. Wine was used to quench the burning offerings on the altar at a sacrifice, and was one of the liquids poured on the ground as an offering to the dead. More than this, however, wine was directly associated with a particular divinity: Dionysus was the patron god and the symbol of wine, as Demeter was of cereals, and one of the 12 major divinities (a further indication of the basic importance of wine to the Greeks). For the Athenian of the 5th century bc, festival days in honour of the gods at set times of year gave the sort of relaxation now provided by weekends. Many of them were associated with wine drinking, vine-growing, and the harvest. The most important of these, the Anthesteria, in honour of Dionysus, celebrated the opening of wine jars in February to test the new wine. It included processions and ritual wine drinking contests and was probably closest to the modern idea of a wine festival. None the less, at the heart of the festival was the serious business of the dedication of the new wine to Dionysus. Other festivals included the Oschophoria, a vintage celebration in September which seems to have been restricted to aristocratic families: two young men led a procession carrying vine branches with the grapes still on them (oschoi) in honour of Dionysus. The Apatouria in the same month was the festival when young males were registered in their phratries, or clans, and there was much associated pouring of wine. The last day of this festival was called Epildon and came to mean `the morning after'. Strangely, there does not seem to have been a particularly important festival at the time of the grape harvest. At the country Dionysia celebrated in the country around Athens, a jar of wine and a vine headed the procession. The great festivals of Athens, the Panathenaia and the City Dionysia, were dominated by the vine (perhaps because they were held further from the vineyards) but there is no doubt that wine was enjoyed at them. In the medieval Greece that was part of the Byzantine empire wine was grown by private individuals and by monasteries (see monks and monasteries). Monasteries were foremost among the great landowners because, as in western Europe, they received donations and bequests from the laity. In the 8th and 9th centuries agriculture was exceptionally profitable; its chief products were wine and fruits and also cotton and medicinal herbs. As in antiquity, the best wines came from the Aegean islands, Khios first of all, and Thasos and Crete. The wines of Thrace and Asia Minor (Cappadocia in particular) were ranked second to these. Evidence from shipwrecks shows that wine was still transported in amphorae in the 7th century, whereas wooden barrels were commonly used in western Europe from the 3rd century ad. After the 7th century the Greeks, too, started using wooden casks, which are lighter and easier to handle than amphorae. In the 12th century Constantinople (on the site of modern Istanbul) was the centre of the Byzantine empire's wine trade. Wines were shipped to Constantinople from the Aegean islands, from Thebes, and also from near Monemvasia, a port on the southern Peloponnese, which gave its name to Malvasia and its English corruption malmsey. Monasteries were exempted from customs duties and were therefore at an advantage compared to private growers and traders: the monasteries of Patmos and Mount Àthos, for instance, made large profits from selling their wines in Constantinople. But the private growers and wine merchants of Greece faced a much greater problem than unfair competition from monks. In 1082 the Emperor Alexius I Comnenus had granted Venice trading facilities at Constantinople and in 32 towns without payment of taxes of any kind. As a result so much money disappeared to the west that Byzantium was economically ruined. Wine producers and wine merchants suffered badly. With no duties to pay, the Venetians were able to sell wine much more cheaply than any Greek could. Often this was imported Italian wine, but most of the wine came from Crete, known then as Candia, which was a colony of Venice (and which was to remain one until the mid 17th century). Worse still, many taverns in Constantinople were owned by Venetians so, in Constantinople at least, they controlled the retail trade as well. It took until the middle of the 14th century for the Byzantine government at least to try to protect the empire's own trade. After earlier failed attempts, the Venetians agreed in 1361 to accept a distinction between wholesale and retail trade and to impose a tax on their own, with the proceeds of course going to Venice, on taverns run by Venetians. In the 15th century tax was finally levied on wine imported by Venetians, but by then it was too late, for Byzantium's wine trade was no longer viable. Crete and Cyprus, under Venetian ownership, continued to produce the strong, sweet wines that were capable of surviving the long sea voyage to western Europe, but the harbour of Monemvasia, close to Byzantium's own supply of Malvasia wines, was now too small to take the larger ships that the west had increasingly come to adopt. Monemvasia had been an entrepot for ships from Cyprus and Crete bound for the west; from the late 14th century onwards it lost out to Cyprus and Crete as a port and the south west Peloponnese declined as a producer of export-quality wine. All trade in Greek wine ceased in the late 15th century, when, after the fall of Byzantium, the Ottoman Turks occupied the Peloponnesian shore and drove out its inhabitants. The centuries of domination by the Ottoman Turks were to blight Greek viticulture and wine-making until well into the 20th century. Wine-making was not normally forbidden to the Christian population, but communication difficulties resulted in a localized peasant industry viewed by the Turkish rulers as a useful means of raising revenue through taxation. Thus, while France, for example, was developing fine wine regions and their markets, Greece remained in what might be termed the vinous Dark Ages. The battle for independence was prolonged and tortuous, and the exhausted and impoverished modern Greek state, founded in 1913, had preoccupations more important than the creation of a fine wine industry. It was not until well after the two World Wars and the subsequent bitter civil war that Greece began to modernize its fragmented wine industry, widely regarded as a source of cheap, often poorly made wines suitable only for the domestic market. The Wine Institute of Athens, which experiments with wine-making techniques and advises wine-makers, was in fact founded in 1937, and some of the major modern wine companies had been established in the late 19th century, but were then chiefly concerned with distillation, bulk wine sales being a subsequent addition. Only in the 1960s was any significant proportion of Greek wine sold in bottle rather than directly from the barrel. Since the 1960s, however, there has been considerable investment in modern technology, and its results have been evident since the early 1980s with the emergence of Greece's first generation of trained oenologists (although it is to the Greek language that we owe the very term oenology). Such is their enthusiasm that, although in strict commercial terms the big companies Achaia Clauss, Boutari, Kourtakis, and Tsantalis still dominate the market, an increasing number of small, quality-minded estates is emerging. Most modern Greek wine finds a ready market within Greece, where the appreciation of good wine has increased considerably. Some fine wines have been exported from the likes of Antonopoulos, Domaine Carras, Ktima Gerovassiliou, Gaia, Oenoforos, and the Samos co-operative, however. There are vineyards in all parts of Greece. At latitudes of between 33 and 41 degrees north, they constitute some of the world's hotter wine regions, although some vines are deliberately planted at relatively high altitudes. The climate is generally predictably Mediterranean, with short winters and very hot summers in which drought can be a serious threat in some years, particularly in the south. There can be considerable variation between the continental-influenced cooler vineyards in the mountains, whether on the plateau of Mantinia in the Peloponnese or in Epirus and Macedonia, where grapes may not even reach full ripeness, and the intense heat of Patras or islands such as Crete and Rhodes on which some grapes may be picked in July. Most of the vineyards are sufficiently close to the sea for maritime breezes to moderate temperatures, but lack of water, particularly on the islands and in the south, is a major problem. Although some rain does fall in the autumn, the first three months of the year are generally the wet months, and many wine areas have no rain at all for six months, which can make the establishment of young vines extremely difficult. irrigation is not generally permitted but may be used to establish new vineyards. Most of Greece is extremely mountainous. Vines can be found growing on flat land near sea level, such as at Ankhialos; on foothills as at Rapsani on the lower slopes of Mount Olympus; and at altitudes as high as 800 m/2,600 ft on the highest slopes in Nemea. Vines are often planted on north-facing slopes in the hottest areas in order to slow ripening. There are many soil types in Greece but the soil is generally of low fertility. Subsoils on the mainland tend to be limestone, while on the islands they are mainly volcanic. Clay, loam, schist, and marl are all found, as well as sandy clay and chalk. The Greek land tenure system means that much of the vineyard area is in the hands of smallholders. Little by little, the large companies which buy in the great majority of their grapes have been working more closely with these vine-growers and spreading more modern viticultural techniques. Grape prices were for long determined by sugar levels, which too often resulted in dangerously low levels of acidity, but these problems have been largely resolved by the big commercial concerns, the more modern co-operatives, and the more ambitious of the small estates. Traditionally most vines were left to grow as bush vines, but almost all new vineyards have been designed with trellis systems on wires, except for those on very windy sites such as are common on the island of Santorini. cordon systems of pruning and training are more common than Guyot. Viticultural knowledge lags behind wine-making practice and the small Vine Institute in Athens for some time concentrated its work on varieties suited to table grapes and drying grapes. virus diseases of the vine are common in some vineyards, and the wine industry might profit from research into improving rootstocks, particularly for hotter areas. The most common rootstocks are 110 R or 41 B. Greece is a still underdeveloped source of indigenous, ancient grape varieties of which more than 300 have been identified. Many of them are used solely for the important table grape or dried fruit industries, however, and many others are used in tiny quantities on a purely local basis. There is still considerable work to be undertaken in vine identification, not just in rediscovering classical varieties, but in discovering the relationships between Greek varieties and those grown elsewhere, in Italy, Cyprus, Turkey, Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo, Croatia, and Macedonia in particular. The specifically Greek wine grape varieties can offer unique characters and flavours. Although, for example, Debina remained a speciality of Epirus in the north west, and Xynomavro of Macedonia in the north east, Greek vine-growers are increasingly experimenting with varieties in areas far from their traditional homes as their value in blends is being recognized. The most important Greek white grape varieties are Assyrtiko, Rhoditis, Robola, Savatiano, Moscophilero, Vilana, Debina, and both Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains and the slightly less important Muscat of Alexandria. The Greek port of Monemvasia also gave its name to the Malvasia grape. Among Greek red grape varieties, the most important to the modern Greek wine industry have been Agiorgitiko, Limnio, Mandelaria, and Xynomavro. See regional details below for more local grape varieties. In addition to these native varieties, a number have been imported, particularly from France. These include Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Ugni Blanc among whites and both Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, a little Merlot, Grenache, Cinsaut, and Syrah among red grape varieties. Some wines, particularly from the newer, small estates, may be made exclusively from one of these imported varieties: the early 1990s saw one Greek Chardonnay, a Merlot, and a number of Cabernet Sauvignons, but it is far more usual to find these foreign varieties playing a minor role in blends with Greek varieties. Indeed there is a strong lobby within Greece which argues that Greek wine should not be made from international varieties, and any new wine applying for appellation status is likely to encounter difficulties if the principal grapes used are not Greek in origin. Since the mid 1980s, almost all Greek wineries have had some sort of refrigeration and the sort of hygiene afforded by the use of stainless steel vats. Only the oldest co-operatives had yet to make such investments in the mid 1990s. As in other Mediterranean areas, early picking and cool fermentations enabled by temperature control resulted in clean but characterless white wines of about 11.5 per cent alcohol. Such techniques as skin contact, slightly later picking, and deliberate oxidation of the must prior to fermentation were used by some of the more daring producers from the early 1990s to develop more interesting wines. Better-quality red wines have traditionally been matured in large, old casks, but imported French barriques are increasingly used for the barrel maturation of reds and even some whites. Greek wine laws were drawn up in the early 1970s and refined in the early 1980s as Greece prepared to join the European Union (EU). It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the laws conform strictly to EU guidelines, often even employing the use on the label of the French terms Appellation d'Origine Controlee and vin de pays (for which, as in France, a wider variety of grape varieties may be used than for full appellation controlee wines). Wines which qualify as quality wines according to EU law are either sweet wines, from Mavrodaphne or Muscat grapes, described as Controlled Appellation of Origin (OPE) with a blue seal over the cork, or dry wines described as Appellation of Superior Quality (OPAP) with a pink seal. The words Reserve or Grande Reserve indicate superior wines with extended ageing. Vins de pays may be made in a wide variety of specified areas, nearly always from a range of vine varieties which includes both Greek and foreign grape varieties. Commercially the most important vin de pays areas are Attica, Drama, Epanomi, and Thivai (or Thebes). The large table wine category includes wine brands that were Greece's most successful wines, as well as some more interesting wines made outside the appellation regulations. The Greeks have also used the term Cava to indicate high-quality table wine which is made only in small quantities and which has been subject to prolonged ageing. The official list of Greek wine appellations was drawn up in the 1950s, although some more recent wine areas, such as the Cotes de Meliton on the Khalkhidhikhi peninsula (see Ancient history above), were subsequently grafted on to the official list. Of the 28 appellations in Greece's widely differing regions, some are produced only in tiny quantities. Some are in danger of extinction and one, Kantza, is no longer made at all. Many are seen rarely outside their area of origin while some are well known and thriving. Wine is made all over Greece, often on a very small, traditional scale. The following includes those quality wine regions which have established their own identity within Greece and sometimes abroad. The regions of Macedonia and Thrace are noted mainly for their red wines, although wines of all hues are made there today. Naoussa, home of red wine from Xynomavro grapes, is on the south eastern slopes of Mount Vermio, at altitudes of between 200 and 350 m (660-1,150 ft), where there is usually no serious lack of rain and winters are cool enough for vine dormancy. Naoussa must be aged for at least a year in oak, traditionally in old wooden casks, but there has been considerable experimentation with new, small barriques. A system of defining the better slopes and awarding them grand cru status was also being studied in the early 1990s. Xynomavro is also grown in this area to produce Goumenissa, where it is blended with Negoska grapes, and to make Amyndeo, which lies on the opposite, north western slopes of Mount Vermio from Naoussa but at altitudes as high as 650 m/2,100 ft. Sparkling rose is made here as well as red wine. Perhaps the most famous appellation in northern Greece is its most recent, the Cotes de Meliton on the slopes of Mount Meliton in Sithonia. This is the appellation specially created by Domaine Carras, a wine estate developed with the well-publicized assistance of Professor Emile Peynaud of Bordeaux. Here both white and red wines are made with a mixture of Greek and French vine varieties, notably Cabernet Sauvignon. It is significant, however, that, as the domaine extends its vineyards, many of the new vines planted are Greek varieties, including the recently rediscovered and elegant indigenous white Malagousia. Also in Thrace is an area around Drama where some good quality vins de pays are made from a mixture of Greek and French grape varieties. Not far from the town of Ioannina and near the border with Albania lies Zitsa, which produces a dry or medium lightly sparkling white wine from the local Debina grape variety. To the immediate south west, in the mountains round Ioannina, are Greece's highest vineyards at Metsovon (900 m/3,000 ft), which yield the popular vin de pays Katoi from locally grown Cabernet Sauvignon grapes blended with Agiorgitiko grapes grown in Nemea. On the east coast in Thessaly Rapsani is produced on the foothills of Mount Olympus from Xynomavro (here grown at its most southerly point) blended with Krassato and Stavroto grapes and given extended cask ageing. This appellation is undergoing much-needed revival but old vintages suggest that the potential for long-lived, concentrated reds is there. Thessaly's other appellation is Ankhialos, a dry white wine made from Rhoditis with some Savatiano grapes grown near Volos at sea level. This dramatically formed, large southern peninsula has the greatest number of Greek wine appellations, as well as some interesting vins de pays and table wines. On the plateau of Mantinia in Arcadia, at altitudes of about 600 m/2,000 ft, the Moscophilero grape produces a fresh, dry, aromatic, slightly spicy white appellation, while the same grape can be vinified, with extended maceration, to yield a simple but fruity rose. At Nemea, not far from the Corinth canal which separates the Peloponnese from mainland Greece, the Agiorgitiko grape is grown on deep red soil and, if yields are not too high, can produce intense red wine from three different zones whose altitude varies between 250 and 800 m. Grapes from the lowest vineyards frequently lack acidity and can be used to make a sweet wine, but the finest, dry wine is said to come from vineyards between 450 and 640 m above sea level. As in Naoussa (see above) barriques are increasingly used for the maturation, and semi-carbonic maceration has even been used to make a sort of Nemea nouveau. The vineyards around Patras on the north coast are responsible for four different appellations. Patras itself is a dry white wine made from Rhoditis grapes grown on the slopes around the town. Muscat of Patras is a dessert wine made strong and sweet like a vin doux naturel from Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains grapes, as is Rion of Patras, which is almost extinct owing to the encroachment of buildings on the vineyard area. Mavrodaphne of Patras is a very popular appellation, on the other hand, consisting of a blend in which Mavrodaphne makes up the majority but may be supplemented by the locally grown Korinthiaki (Corinth or currant) grape grown mainly for drying grapes. Fermentation is arrested when alcoholic strength has reached about four per cent (as in making port) and the wine, like tawny port, is then aged in wood. Examples aged for ten to twelve years in cask can be delicious. Among the Ionian islands off the west coast, Cephalonia is best known for its wine, particularly the powerful dry white Robola, made from grapes of the same name, which is almost certainly the same variety as the Ribolla of north east Italy. Vines here were individually trained on high, stony land, and mainly ungrafted (although phylloxera's arrival in the late 1980s presumably signals an end to this). Mavrodaphne and Muscat dessert wines, similar to those of Patras, are also produced on the island. From the Cyclades come the wines of Paros and Santorini. Paros is a powerful, quite tannic red made from a curious blend of grapes in which the deep colour of the Mandelaria is lightened by the addition of half as much of the white grape called Monemvasia (see Malvasia). Rainfall is low but the maritime location helps raise humidity. Vines are trained on low bushes as protection against the strong winds. Strong winds are also a characteristic of Santorini. Rainfall on this volcanic island is also very low, but the porosity of the chalk subsoil helps to retain overnight humidity. The Santorini appellation is for a dry white made from Assyrtiko grapes blended with a little Athiri and Aedani, but a sweet dried grape wine (see dried grape wines), Vissanto, is also made. The island of Rhodes has been an important producer of wine since classical times. Today there are three appellations: one for a sweet Muscat made in very limited quantities, one for a dry white from Athiri grapes, and another for a red from the Mandelaria, here known as Amorgiano. Only grapes grown on the higher reaches of the north or north eastern slopes qualify for appellation wines. The Rhodes co-operative, the CAIR, also makes a considerable quantity of improving sparkling wine. Two of Greece's most famous wines are made among the Aegean islands. Lemnos was the original home of the Limnio grape which is still grown there, but the appellation wines are both Muscats. The dry version is rarely seen off the island, but the vin de liqueur Muscat of Lemnos is widely admired, being surprisingly delicate. Muscat of Samos can claim to be Greece's most famous wine (after retsina). Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains is grown up to 800 m/2,600 ft above sea level, often on terraces on the island's steep hillsides, and the vintage can last a full two months, depending on vineyard altitude. Muscat of Samos comes in several forms: Samos Doux is a vin de liqueur, while Samos Vin Doux Naturel is made by stopping the fermentation even earlier. Potentially finest of all, however, is Samos Nectar, a dried grape wine made from grapes dried in the sun so that they are capable of being fermented into a wine of 14 per cent alcohol, which is then given three years in cask. The last of the appellation wines of any commercial importance comes from Crete from a variety of grape varieties unique to the island, together with Mandelaria. The pale red Liatiko reaches high alcohol levels and ripens very early, sometimes as early as August, while the powerful, deep coloured Kotsifali produces particularly robust red wines. The most important local white grape is Vilana. Local red wine appellations for dry and sometimes sweet wines are Archanes, Daphnes, and Siteaia, while Peza, the most common wine appellation on the island, may be either dry red or white. The vineyards, which tend to be on the north of the island, protected from the hot winds from North Africa by the mountain range, are in the process of being replanted after phylloxera was discovered on the island in the late 1970s. See also retsina, a flavoured wine (see flavoured wines) speciality of Greece which can claim direct descent from the resinated wines of later classical times. Bibliography - Kazhdan, A. P. (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, 3 vols. (Oxford, 1988).
- Lambert-Gocs, Miles, The Wines of Greece (London, 1990).
- Nicol, Donald M., Byzantium and Venice (Cambridge, 1988).
- Lambert-Gocs, M., The Wines of Greece (London, 1990).
- Manessis, N., The Greek Wine Guide (Corfu, biennially).
References acidification acidity Aegean islands ageing Aglianico Albania alcoholic strength altitude amphora appellation controlee Asia Minor Athenaeus barrel barrel maturation barrique beer blending bouquet brands bush vines Canaan cask ageing Cava Celts clarification connoisseurship containers continental co-operatives cordon Crete Crimea Croatia crushing cuvee Cyprus Debina Dionysus distillation dried grape wines drought drying grapes Egypt EU European Union (EU) fermentation fining flavoured wines France free-run grand cru Grechetto hangover harvest Hesiod Homer hygiene international varieties irrigation Italy Kosovo libation Limnio Macedonia maceration malmsey Malvasia Mandelaria Mediterranean merchants mesoclimate Mesopotamia monks and monasteries Montenegro Moscophilero Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains Muscat of Alexandria must nouveau oak oenologist oenology Oenotria oxidation passito Phoenicia phylloxera pigeage piquette Pliny port press price propagation pruning quality wine racking refrigeration resinated wines retsina Rhoditis Rhone Ribolla ripeness Robola rootstock Santorini Savatiano semi-carbonic maceration skin contact stainless steel stuck fermentation symposium table grapes table wine tasting taxation temperature control terraces Theophrastus training trellis systems Turkey Tuscany Venice vermouth Vilana vin de liqueur vin de pays vin doux naturel vinegar vine identification vintage virus diseases Xynomavro yeast yield
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