Food & Wine Pros

Why Greek wines go with more than just Greek food

Posted by Peter Pharos on October 20 2024 at 08:24

Peter Pharos argues that his home country’s wines deserve a place on the table with the world’s most popular cuisines.

Greeks travel. A lot. Depending on who you ask, either Melbourne or Astoria (Queens, NYC) would make the third biggest Greek city – and London Zone 1 is probably not far behind. Greeks also tend to play well with others – these days it seems every other co-patriot of mine has a foreign spouse.

Greek wine, by contrast, is less mobile. Sure, by now most people know Assyrtiko, and Xinomavro is shyly making its first appearances in restaurant wine lists in London. But when it comes to matching it with food, by and large it seems locked in clichés, a last-minute afterthought for Greek and Greek-inspired recipes. This is a shame. The Greek wine of today has the quality and diversity to match a great range of world cuisines – and I am here to prove it to you. So, I invite you to follow me to a food trip around the world, with Greek wines in checked luggage.

10 pairings for Greek wines you probably haven’t thought of

1. Turkey

Imam Bayildi with Naoussa Xinomavro

We’re starting off easy. This is not so much a cross-cultural pairing experiment, as a tip of the hat to our neighbours to the East, the “fainting Imam” being almost as common in Greece as it is in Turkey. Some like to pair it with heavy reds, but when done well (the fried aubergines having absorbed enough extra virgin olive oil, the onions caramelised in cumin and cinnamon) I prefer something sharp and refined to cut through the oiliness of the dish and not obscure the spices. A Naoussa Xinomavro, particularly of the traditional, rustic school such as Kir-Yianni’s Ramnista or Boutari’s Grande Reserve works particularly well.

If you like your wines softer, or you are preparing the dish with a Greek twist, which includes sprinkling feta on top, the newer, more fruit-driven style works well – Thymiopoulos’s take is particularly suitable.

2. Lebanon

Kibbeh with Vlachiko

A classic Levantine dish, this is often paired with Rhône-style blends from Lebanon in restaurants, a combination I find average as the reds are usually muscular and tend to overpower the gentle spices of the kibbeh. Instead, I propose a rare, and admittedly under-the-radar, Greek red variety. Vlachiko (pronounced VLA-hee-ko) is indigenous to Epirus, in the northwest of the country.

It is a cool-climate grape, which most would struggle to recognise as Greek and it is possibly the closest the country has to Burgundian Pinot Noir, though it is more herbal and less tannic. I hold that no winemaker has yet achieved the variety’s potential, but Metsovo-based Katogi Averoff is on to a good start with its Rossiu di Munte. The Glinavos estate blends it with another, even rarer, local variety called Bekari, for a result that is a tad fuller with more pronounced fruit. I would go for the former for more gently-spiced kibbeh, and for the latter with heavier versions.

3. China

Stir Fry with Retsina

This, I realise, will be controversial. Not simply because now we’re getting in true world fusion mode, but also because Retsina remains, unfairly, an object of derision for big parts of the population. I dare say though that the gentle aroma of pine resin not only works excellently with the demanding flavours of Chinese stir fries but is one of the very few wine pairings that truly add something – as opposed to the awkward co-existence that most others seem to achieve.

The new wave of quality Retsina allows for a lot happy experimentation. To get you started, I would go with a Roditis-based one, such as Tetramythos, for tofu and green bean stir fries. Seafood-based stir fries would benefit from the sharper, Assyrtiko-based Retsina elite of Tear of the Pine. For a quirky accompaniment to meat-based stir fries, try a rosé Retsina. Tear of the Pine stablemate Rosa is probably your best bet.

4. Cambodia

Fish Amok with Nychteri

You can find this genius or madness, and I would agree with you either way. Sweet, perfumed dishes such as Fish Amok are notoriously difficult to pair with wine. Step in Nychteri, a high-alcohol wine from Santorini, made with overripe grapes, mostly or exclusively of the Assyrtiko variety. It has tropical fruit and honey notes on the nose and a full body that, to my palate at least, works remarkably well with the coconut milk-based gravy. If you’re worried about the salinity typically associated with Santorini, it’s hardly present; here Assyrtiko manifests itself in intensity, scaling up the gentle spices of the dish. The only downside is the price. This is an expensive wine to make, and the better examples, such as Sigalas’s, can get quite steep. Gavalas offers an alternative, which is more price-friendly, if not dramatically so. Hey, nobody said international summits come cheap.

dim sum

5. Hong Kong

Dim Sum with Malagousia

I realise that, as Dim Sum has Guangzhou origins, I am cheating a bit and putting China twice here. Hong Kongers would probably argue they have made it their own though, so there. I also realise that purists will say that nothing matches good tea for a proper Dim Sum and I don’t entirely disagree. If, however, you don’t consider it a proper brunch without a good drop, I put forward for your consideration the rising star of the Greek North, Malagousia, especially as represented by Estate Alpha and Malagousia pioneer Gerovassiliou. These elegantly perfumed, light-bodied whites are ideal accompaniments for the cornucopia of seafood and vegetable rolls and dumplings that make a good dim sum, but also work well with various dishes of noodles or rice, particularly lotus leaf. Just keep them away from the pork buns.

6. Japan

Sashimi and Nigiri with Robola

Since Japanese food became a thing in the west in the ‘80s, the whole coterie of premium whites has jostled for a place at the sushi bar. Far be it from me to deny the pleasures of a great white burgundy or the better Alsatians with sashimi…but are we sure they are not overpowering at times? My recommendation is for Cephalonia’s Robola, the Cinderella of the Greek vineyard. A delicate, almost shy, wine with citrus notes on the nose and just a hint of sweetness in the aftertaste, works excellently with the gentler sashimi and nigiri, such as prawn, eel, and sea bream. A rustic take is available from the island’s cooperative, while Gentilini is the leading producer to try. The latter also has a newer, experimental label, Wild Paths, which can take more robust fish such as mackerel and tuna.

7. USA

Barbeque with northern Greece reds

That’s an easy one. Burgers, hot dogs, and steaks, served with rich sides and enjoyed in a relaxed manner, are naturally happy with any robust, generous red. I’m here to suggest that Greece, and northern Greece in particular, does those well too. So, if next time you have a barbeque you want to try something different, and also give a nod to the big Greek-American community, go for a wine which blends Greek varieties with international ones. Ktima Gerovassiliou, Ktima Biblia Chora, and Costa Lazaridis’s Amethystos are all good places to start.

8. Mexico

Fish tacos with Aidani

Baja California’s favourite export is not an easy dish to match with wine. If you try to work to the fish, you’ll fall foul of the sour cream or mayo. If you try to match to the cream, you might overpower the fish - and then there is the lime in the salsa to consider. Enter Santorini native Aidani. Unfairly obscured by its more famous neighbour, it can give exciting wines when vinified well, as demonstrated by local elite Argyros and Sigalas. While lacking the saline majesty of Assyrtiko, these are lively, almost playful, wines, marrying citrus and tropical fruits on the nose with a long, almost sparkling, aftertaste – just the thing for the spicy hit of a good fish taco.

9. England

Fish’n’chips with Mantineia Moschofilero

The story of drink pairing for fish’n’chips can be viewed as a metaphor for England’s increased cosmopolitanism, from ale, to Continental lager, to hoppy IPAs via way of the US. Meanwhile, gastropubs established its potential for wine matching, from Chablis to Cava. Fish’n’chips took it all in tolerance and good humour, maybe because it knows that it’s a bit of a hotchpotch combo itself. In a spirit of resistance to the times, which seem to call for a return to tinned green peas and bitter(ness), I urge you to continue exploring.

My Greek suggestion is Moschofilero, particularly from Mantineia in the Peloponnese. The strong lemon notes are a natural match for fried fish, while its intense acidity is just the thing for cutting through the fat. The finish is crisp, setting you up for the next mouthful. Mantineia is rather consistent across producers, but Tselepos is considered one of the masters. Nassiakos and Antonopoulos have two examples that you will find in many a taverna.

10. Italy

Cantucci with Vinsanto

Wait, I hear you say. Is this some kind of trick? Are you going to claim some Greek heritage to Trebbiano to say it’s all Greek in the end, like a vinous version of the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding? No people. I’m not talking about Vin Santo, but Vinsanto. It’s not that I don’t love the Tuscan version. I do, and I fully see the point of the very slight bitterness that Vin Santo has in its aftertaste when enjoyed as merenda, as I hear is still the case amongst Florentine old ladies. But I tend to have it as dessert – and I like my desserts property sweet. So, instead, I recommend you give a shot to cantucci with Vinsanto, the Santorini dessert wine made of the three white grapes of the island. Any of the usual suspects will do, but I am slightly partial to Argyros. Just make sure you stick to the less aged examples.

And that’s it! We are back to Greece! I’ll leave what to pair with moussaka to you ...

Wines which are not included in the links can be found on greeceandgrapes.com.

Peter Pharos likes drinking, talking and writing about the wines of Greece and Italy. He writes a bimonthly column for timatkin.com.

Top photo ©Kisa_Markiza at fotolia.com, dim sum © martinhosmat083 at fotolia.com

Tags: Greek reds Greek whites vinsanto moschofilero robola malagousia retsina xinomavro Greek wine
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What makes a vino da meditazione?

Posted by Peter Pharos on January 7 2022 at 08:04

You may have a fixed idea of what constitutes a vino da meditazione but, as Peter Pharos argues, many wines are well suited to sipping thoughtfully on one's own.

Wine is for sharing: it’s the drink of conviviality and the table, food and company, the elixir of good times.

There is, however, another aspect to Dionysus’ gift. It calls for low light and solitude, quiet and reflection. If there is music, it is unobtrusive. If there is food, it is in modest quantity, there not to lead, but to support. Called vini da meditazione by the great Italian writer and connoisseur Luigi Veronelli, these wines were meant to be one-on-one affairs between the oenophile and his or her wine.

The qualities that make a “meditation” wine are not strictly defined, but typically it has to be complex and very well made. It is usually suitable for ageing and has gone at least some way towards maturity. Sometimes it is said, erroneously, that it also needs to be sweet and/or over-alcoholic. In reality, the most important quality of a vino da meditazione is to be intellectually stimulating. You wouldn’t want a boring partner in a one-to-one conversation, would you?

Six Vini da Meditazione

1. Champagne

I will understand if you think that I’m just trying to wind you up. After all, champagne looks like the complete inverse of a vino da meditazione. It is drunk at the beginning, not the end, of a meal. It’s the drink of weddings and graduations, sport victories and business deals, not of solitude, but of big groups toasting to life.

Even if one wanted to drink it alone, it doesn’t lend itself to a single pour, the fleeting nature of bubbles being notoriously tricky to preserve, above even the technological might of a Coravin.

In a way though, Champagne is a victim of its own marketing success. True, some of the non-vintage supermarket cuvées, or even some of the lower-end grandes marques, might be better suited to spraying on your fellow F1 drivers on the podium. But aim a bit further up and you are rewarded with powerful, elaborate wines with multiple layers of aromas and flavour. At the top end, as in the case of the Holy Trinity of Dom Perignon, Krug, and Cristal, you have wines of remarkable complexity, gripping intensity, and at times astounding creativity. For the oenophile, they provide an intellectual stimulation that demands full attention. You might be surrounded by people, but the affair becomes strictly one-on-one.

2. Oaked white Rioja

Like Bordeaux and Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Rioja is an area where the fame of the reds outshines some excellent, and occasionally outstanding, whites. Young or unoaked white Rioja is a food wine, needing some seafood or grilled vegetables to accompany. It is the oaked, aged takes that are of interest here though.

The traditionalists of López de Heredia produce what just might be the best value-for-money white in Europe in Tondonia Blanco Reserva. Released well over a decade after the vintage, including six years in oak, it can easily take a further decade or two in the bottle. Elegant, aromatic, and very dry, it is a wine that rewards thoughtfulness. It can accompany a carefully curated meal, but it is also happy with a small snack: some green olives, a plate of pimientos de padron, maybe a bit of manchego. And when you are ready, invest on the magnificent peculiarity that is the Gran Reserva: it is not the easiest of wines, but it is one of the most interesting. A few slivers of jamón ibérico and a couple of thin slices of good bread are enough to see you through a glass.

3. Côte-Rôtie

Autumn is prime time for the elite of the northern Rhône to grace your table. If you are lucky enough to have suitably long aged Cornas or, even better, Hermitage (and if you do, brother, can you spare a glass?), now is the time to open them; these dark and earthy marvels need gamey and ferrous flavours to be tamed. It is, however, the gentler, occasionally viognier-tempered, Syrah of the “roasted slope” that makes a meditation wine for me. Prices at the higher end can match Hermitage for silliness, but I am happy with something as relatively reasonable as Chapoutier’s Les Bécasses. You need to start early though: I am waiting at least two more years before I start diving into on my 2010s. Alternatively, look at the Wine Society, which conveniently stocks the 2006. Pour just one glass. Put a bit of pâté on grilled bread. Ponder.

4. Barolo

Pinot Noir, the great prima donna of the French vineyard, makes for a natural meditation wine when at its best. Or so I hear, as the stratospheric prices put the great crus far beyond my reach and there is only so much thinking one can do with a glass of a village-level Fixin.

Instead, I look a couple of hundred miles to the southwest, at pinot noir’s transalpine opposite number. In Barolo and environs, Nebbiolo starts too muscular and virile to imbibe solo: it needs to dance with steak in its youth and argue with truffle in its middle age. But some time around the 15-year mark, when the sharp edges have mellowed away and the nose has finally attained perfect poise, the intellectual side of The Foggy One finally comes out.

One of my star wines of last year was a Pio Cesare Barolo 2000. At 17 years of age, it had started showing hints of caramel on the nose, was gentle enough not to harm a bit of Toma di Balme, yet robust enough to take on a bit of Crudo di Cuneo.

5. Sherry

I would understand if you thought that the way I have been compiling this list makes vinous meditation sound like an extremely expensive sport, if not an outright vice. Lamentably, it is probably a bit both. If, however, you want to stay on a budget, you can hardly do better than sherry.

Wine people have been saying that it is due for a major comeback ever since I can remember, yet even in these more adventurous years, it remains an underperformer.

While this state of affairs is very unfair to the good people and excellent winemakers of Jerez, it does have the advantage of allowing the rest of us to buy wine that is complex, interesting, and different, at remarkably low prices. Marks and Spencer stocks a range of Lustau-made sherries, the more interesting of which, such as the oloroso and the palo cortado, would still be bargains at one-and-a-half times the price.

And if you do want to invest in a more extravagant sherry, wonders await. Tradición’s VORS 30 year old Oloroso is only the latest to blow me away, a multi-layered marvel that needs only a biscuit and a thin slice of Gruyère – or maybe a handful of hazelnuts.

6. Nectar

It’s not just sherry: fortified wines are natural vini da meditazione. Complexity and intensity come easy to them, while the high alcohol suggests sipping as opposed to quaffing. In many ways, vintage port is the quintessential meditation wine and one of the two I considered a bit too obvious to include here (the other being Amarone).

Sweet wines come close behind, and one could make a case for many, from Sauternes, to trockenbeerenauslese, to Passito di Pantelleria. Allow me a left-field suggestion though and a bit of a cheer for the home team. The island of Samos in Greece makes sweet wines from the local Muscat variant, which are beautifully honeyed and elegantly moreish, yet somehow still remain very under-priced.

Waitrose stocks the classic Anthemis, a great match for many traditional Greek and Middle Eastern desserts, for just above £10 for 500ml. It is, however, the odd bottling of decades-old Nectar, a naturally sweet wine of sun-dried, overripe grapes, that achieves the truly profound. In recent years, the local co-operative has released limited quantities of the 1975 and 1980 vintages, both outstanding vinous experiences that demand one’s complete and unwavering attention.

You don’t have to take my biased word for it; Jancis Robinson gave the 1980 a very rare 19/20, above venerable ports costing many times the price - and you don’t have to remember if you need to pass it left or right.

So what is your perfect vino da meditazione? Do you agree with Peter or have another favourite?

Peter Pharos likes drinking, talking and writing about the wines of Greece and Italy. He also writes a bimonthly column for timatkin.com. (That's not him in the picture by the way but a stock photo ©tverdohlib @fotolia.com!)

Tags: white rioja côte rôtie sherry barolo champagne dessert wine port drink:sweet & fortified wine
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