Greece part 3: griechischer Wein

The main building of Domaine Skouras

We are no wine experts but we like to visit wine farms and drink good wine, well wine that we think is good ;) I actually didn't drink any alcohol and thus also no wine until I met my Hubby. He kind of teached me that alcohol doesn't have to mean drinking until you drop but can also be a nice occasion with good food and company. For me the wine world has always seemed too big to get hold of. I'm not that interested that I would sit home und study the wines but on the other hand I love to visit the producers and get the first hand  information and experience.

So far I have mostly concentrated my efforts on South African wines because that was the first country where I visited a wine warm and really drank wine. Since we live in Switzerland I have been into Swiss and German wines as well...you know, we find it important to support the local producers so when we eat out in Switzerland we usually go for a Swiss wine. I'm also a big fan of fortified wines, specially sherry. That's since our holiday in the southern Spain and visit to Jerez de la Frontera two years ago.

The Greek wines were a totally new experience for me. About the only thing I knew about them was Retsina and the song Griechischer Wein from Udo Jürgens :D Already at the first hotel we learned some rudimentary things about the Greek wines and grape sorts and even more information we got at Domaine Skouras wine farm.

The entrance hall

A visit to Domaine Skouras was recommended by our host in Koita. He told us that it's one of the few nice wine farms in the Peloponnese to visit which has a nice "visitor center". All those who have visited South Africa and the wine farms there know that the wine tourism in there is very developed. Well, even though Greece is one of the oldest  wine producing countries in Europ it's not like that there. We did see some Wine Route signs but it all seemed a bit incomplete to us. As we were recommeded to visit the Domaine Skouras and because it was on our way from Olympia to Nafplio we of course wanted to pay it a visit.

 

A short tour through the production areas

The production tanks

The wine barrels

In the cellar

In the cellar

Tasting

Window view

Wine and art go good together

We happened to be the only visitors at the time so we got a short private tour and visited the production room and the wine cellar. Afterwards we tasted five different wines. Our guide was absolutely great and we spent quite some time at the farm talking about wine, the wine in Greece, Greek politics, Swiss politics, our visit to South African wine farms and so on. The tasting didn't cost us anything but we also bought 8 bottles of wine and one Grappa so I wouldn't know if it cost something if one doesn't buy their products. Absolutely a worth of a visit!  The wines we bought there:

Cuveé Prestige Rosé 2012 (30% Moscofilero, 70 % Aghiorghitiko, altitude 700m)
Grand Cuveé Nemea 2008( 100 % Aghiorghitiko, altitude 1040m)
Fleva 2011 (100% Syrah, altitude 600m, 1st price in Syrah du Monde^® 2013)
Viognier Eclectique "Spilitsa" 2012 (100% Viognier, altitude 300m)

We also bought some wine at the air port which is not from Skouras:

Santorini Argyros, Assyrtiko 2012 (100% Assyrtiko)
We are both huge fans of South African Sauvignon blanc and the grape Assyrtiko and some wines produced from it seem to have some similar qualities.

I'm not gonna write more about the grape varieties etc. but here are some very informative links, if you are interested in finding our yourself:
All about Greek wine
The Greek wine
Wikipedia: Greek wine
Weinversand aus Griechenland (in GermanI

Wine show