Hello, hello, hello, welcome back to Exotic Wine Travel. I am your host Matthew Horkey. We are going to talk about Greek wines today. I'm super excited. Greek wines are having our moment in the sun right now and I'm going to show you why. It's because of some really unique grapes. The first thing you're going to know is even though that the Greeks are really credited with developing wine culture, I'm sorry, thousands and thousands of years ago, in the modern times, in about three decades ago, Greek wines were really not renowned around the world as fine wines. This is now changing as the quality has risen and producers are getting better and better with increased technology, knowledge of their local grapes, which we're going to show off today. In the past, when I used to live in Singapore, there was a Greek restaurant that imported their own wines. And since wines are expensive in Singapore, I'd always go there because the wine prices in the list were great. There were small producers, there were producers of wines that couldn't get anywhere else in Singapore. And that's where I cut my teeth with Greek wines. I really started to love them. I'm too young in the industry to remember the olden times, about 30 years ago when they had such bad reputations. I've been to so many tastings in New York City, in Asia, tasting tons of Greek wines. I love all the producers. I'm hoping to make it there this year. So let's get into some of the wines. I think what makes Greek wines really special are all these weird and odd varieties that give flavors that are really unfamiliar to kind of more novice drinkers or even more experienced drinkers for that matter. I'm going to use examples from this wine, Monum Vasia today. I really like this wine. They're in the Belépa Ness Peninsula in Greece. The reason I love this wine, first of all, is family owned by a lovely couple, Ellie and George Cimidis. And they make a lot of blends and variety of wines from unique grapes. They have a pretty big portfolio and we're going to taste some of those wines today. Another reason I like these wines is because they're priced very, very well. If you're in Europe, a lot of these wines are in the 10-year-old range and under and if they are in the US, they're in the UK, I don't think you're looking at more than 20 US dollars. So they deliver a lot of bang for the buck. So let's start to get into some of these grapes today. Monum Vasia is named after the place and it's the birthplace of Malvazia. They're now about 30, I think 36 different varieties of Malvazia planted all around the Mediterranean as started from here in Monum Vasia. They actually have a brilliant wine, a brilliant Malvazia sweet wine 2012. This is a sun-dried sweet wine. This is the type of wine the Greeks were drinking probably thousands of years ago. Sweet, luscious, caromelly, nutty. This wine is really phenomenal, phenomenal, phenomenal. Alliance, one of Schurien's favorites. We're not going to taste it today, but if you like sweet wines that have really coffee, taffy, brownie, nutty, walnut-y type flavors, you're really going to like this. This is one of their best wines. It's really something special. But we're going to try some of the fresh wines today and we're going to start out with a grape that's actually pretty well known, but not from Palipinus. This is Acertico. This is the 2018 from Monum Vasia. Acertico's claim to fame are the wines of Santorini, the small volcanic island. It's cool because it's so windy there. The vines are grown in almost like little nests to protect the grapes from the wind and then the grapes are in the middle. It's volcanic soils there, but you can find Acertico throughout Greece. You can find it in blends for real wines. They make a variety of wine. What I like about that is the Acertico's are starting to get up in the price. Some of the reserve bottlings have seen up to 40, 50, 60, even 70 dollars. This wine will run you in at around 10 euros. It's kind of known as the Greek reasling. Let's give this a wow. This is the... And right off the bat when you smell this, you can see why it's intense. A little bit floral, but really intense. You get the citrus notes. A little bit of white peach. I mean the flavors just explode out of the glass. Oh, this isn't really going to be a scoring episode, but this wine definitely take a 90 point tape wine. Razor sharp, it's in the mineraly feel. The reason that I really love Acertico's is because even with their sharp intents, high acid, mineraly, they're not austere. You still have some fruit notes that makes it really enjoyable. Gray sandy like texture, long piercing finish, thanks to the acidity. Wow, really nice one. Nice job, I'm one of those. It's not a scoring episode, but this is type of wine that definitely would get 90 points. Another variety that they grow, and they're one of the few that grow this is called Aspruti. This is also a white grape. Not many producers grow it. There's also another white grape that they grow that's famous in Greece called Mosque Féleiro, something that you should look for. And then another famous Greek white grape called Malagusia. Both of those grapes are more really floral. Actually surprisingly floral for Mediterranean grapes. You want to check those out. Malagusia especially is having its moment in the sun. Thanks to the producer, Zero Vassilio. See if I'm right. My Greek is right. Let's move on to a grape that the Y-maker George Cvdis is actually a pioneer of. Let me see if I'm pronouncing this right. Heita Nitsa, a very unique grape. This is one of the few producers of this wine. 2018. This is actually one of a gold trophy. The best of Balkans. The Balkans International Wine Competition. I was actually there last year. So very cool. Let's give this a little bit of a smell here. Now what I like about Greek grapes is they're almost Greek white grapes. They're all kind of a little bit floral. Don't think of something explosive like Muscatty, but you definitely get a little bit of yellow flower, kins, Asian pear type. It's not as intense on the nose as the asceticle, but it's definitely interesting. Let's give this a go. The Heita Nitsa is a little bit more fuller in body. Definitely lower in sensitivity. It's really nice about the wine as the texture. Full body for a stainless steel wine wine that does not see oak. Lots of texture. I forgot my spittunes. I got to swallow everything today. You still get that minerally flavor. This is really good. I think this is going to, the asceticle is going to wow a lot more casual drinkers because it's so explosive. This is really going to kind of tailor to the more geeky palettes because it's such a unique grape. It's so geeky. It's so round and full. There's a little bit of nuances there. I really like this wine as well. A lot of professionals I don't like to wine as well. Let's get into some of the red grapes. One of my favorite red Greek grapes is Xenomafro. You're going to see that in the Appalachian Nalson in all different parts of Greece. I don't have an example today. I got to tell you guys that grape makes such undervalued wines. From old school traditional producers, those wines can be leathery. They can have a little bit of tomato leaf, a little bit of tar. They have small tannins. It's high acidity. It really reminds me of nebbiolo. We take those wines to blind tasting a lot of times. Sometimes people actually think they are nebbiolo. They think they are borolo type wine. That's something to look out for. It's my favorite Greek grape. Also spectacular value for money. It's going to be a little bit more difficult for the casual palette because it's the highest in the Biting Tannins. This grape is a little bit more easy. This is the most widely planted grape in Greece. It's a little bit difficult for people to pronounce. Agaritico, which means actually just Saint George. This is the Monomvasia Red Dry 2013. This is mostly Agaritico and a little bit of the grape called Maverudy in the blend. The reason Agaritico is a little bit easier for most people is you can make real simple table wine or you can make serious wines for barrel agi. But it's got a lot of fruit. It's a little bit more plush. It's famous in the PDO and the Appalachian of Nemia. Tasted some great examples before. I've also tasted some examples of adc tannins that were a little bit difficult. You definitely get the heat with this grape. This wine is aged in the barrel for 12 months. This is very stereotypical Agaritico and even though this is not a Nemiowine, this is actually a PGI wine from Leconia. That's what it's labeled as. Really, really nice cherry flavors, cherry and leather. Old World Fans Mineral. A little bit of tomato leaf. Well, this is a lot of I have a Leporfolio. I've tasted the heat on the it's up before. They're mouth sweet malvazia. I've tasted some of their blends. I have not tasted this wine before. Smells really good actually. Old World Fans are going to love this. This does remind me of Agaritico. Real plush, kind of sweet cherry notes in the front. Plush mouth feel the tannins are firm, but they're not too hard. Oh my gosh. Lathery, a little bit peppery. This wine is really good. I really, really enjoy this. 2013 shows some age, shows some development. If I had to compare Agaritico, it's kind of like to me, a Mediterranean, a Mediterranean Marlowe kind of mixed in with Alianico from Southern Italy. That's kind of the imaginary blend I see there. So guys, tell me in the comments section below. Do you like Greek wines? Which ones do you like? Which grapes do you like? It was this video useful for you. Until then, please subscribe to our YouTube channel, exotic wine travel. I will see you at the next episode.