A short guide to Greek wine
Most visitors meet a Greek wine guide the hard way, standing over a list of grapes they have never heard of. Six names will get you through almost any of them.
Assyrtiko, the one to know first
Assyrtiko is the great white grape of the Cyclades, grown most famously on Santorini in low woven baskets that shelter the fruit from the wind. It is bone dry, high in acid, and tastes of lemon, salt and wet stone. It is the wine that made the rest of the world take Greek whites seriously.
Order it with anything from the sea. It is unbothered by lemon, unbothered by oil, and it cuts through fried food better than almost anything else on a Greek list.
Malagousia and Moschofilero
Malagousia was nearly extinct fifty years ago and is now planted all over the mainland. It is aromatic and softer than Assyrtiko: peach, basil, a little citrus peel. If a table cannot agree, this is usually the bottle that pleases everyone.
Moschofilero comes from the Peloponnese, is pale, floral and light on alcohol, and works in the heat of a long August evening when a heavier wine would flatten the meal.
The reds: Xinomavro and Agiorgitiko
Xinomavro is northern, structured and slow to open, with tomato leaf and dried herbs alongside the fruit. People who love Nebbiolo tend to recognise it immediately. Give it time in the glass and it rewards you.
Agiorgitiko is rounder and easier, dark fruit with soft tannin, and it does not demand a heavy plate. On an island summer night it is the red that does not feel like hard work.
Rosé is not an afterthought here
Greek rosé has become serious in the last decade. Made from Agiorgitiko, Xinomavro or Moschofilero, it lands somewhere between a Provençal style and something with more grip, which suits a table where half the food came from the sea and half came off the grill.
Our own wine list runs to twenty-one Greek whites, seven rosés and nine Greek reds, alongside Champagne and bottles from elsewhere, so the comparison is easy to make in one evening.
Retsina, honestly
Retsina has a reputation earned in the 1970s, when it travelled abroad in bulk and tasted of furniture polish. The wine itself is older than that reputation: pine resin was originally used to seal amphorae, and the flavour it left behind became a style.
The modern versions are a different drink. Made from good fruit with a restrained hand on the resin, a serious retsina is dry, faintly herbal and genuinely useful at the table, particularly with fried food and strong cheeses. Try one glass before you decide.
What to order with what
Raw and cured fish want Assyrtiko. Grilled vegetables and cheese-heavy plates want Malagousia. Slow-cooked lamb wants Xinomavro. If the table is sharing everything, which is how Greek food is designed to be eaten, a good rosé and a good Assyrtiko will cover the whole menu between them.
And if you would rather not decide, say so. Tell the sommelier what you are eating and roughly what you want to spend, and let the room do its job. The tasting menu is the easiest version of that conversation.
One practical note to finish. Greek wine lists move quickly, because most of the producers are small and a good vintage simply runs out. The bottle you loved last summer may not be there this one, so it is always worth asking what arrived this week rather than hunting for a label you remember.