THE NAXOS GUIDE TO GREEK WINE AND SPIRITS
"Ah! bouteille, m'amie, pourquoi vous videz-vous?" - Moliere
One of life's greatest pleasures is to sit in the shade on a blazing Greek day looking out to sea in some perfect taverna (try PARADISE) drinking ice cold Retsina. Retsina is an acquired taste - we had to force down about twenty bottles, in the beginning, to appreciate it - but persevere. The best are the half litre bottles with the flip tops. Naxos now does some very palatable white wines from the barrel but also some execrable ones - always try a little first. The barreled reds are usually a sort of dirty rosé and we have yet to find a decent one. There are also some reasonable wines bottled on the island:
Portara
All Promponas Wines
A readily available wine with a bit of a fizz on the tongue is Tsantili but it goes very lifeless within 2 years.
Boutari and Cambas wines are both very drinkable and, usually, extremely cheap!
"Gentlemen, in the little moment that remains us between the crisis and the catastrophe,
we may as well drink a glass of champagne" Paul Claudel - but not in Greece, the local champagne (sparkling wine) is very undrinkable!
Recently, we have found some superb wines - at a price! Amethystos, red and white, made by the Laziridis brothers, are both more than excellent. The red is like a Bourgueil and the white a sauvignon comparable with a New Zealand. However, the bottle of white we had at Palatia cost €17 and was served without grace and also without any sort of nibbles or anything to keep it cool!
Greece has three major wine making regions:
The Peloponnese
Macedonia
Attica
and, in addition, several islands are known for the quality of their wine, for example, Santorini and Samos.
These regions have improved until the reputation of Greek wines has been rescued, escaping from the stigma of the ubiquitous Domestica. The Sunday Times recommends looking out for the following labels:
Domaine Gerovassilou (Mac)
Domaine Mercouri (Pel)
Domaine Sigalas (Santorini)
Domaine Tselepos (Pel)
Ktima Gaia (Santorini)
Ktima Kyr Yianni (Mac)
Strifilia (Attica)
Visanto Boutari (Santorini) - described as a superb, sweet, dessert wine.
And a couple advised in previous years are:
Gaia Thalassitis (Santorini)
Papantonis Miden Agan (Nemea)
Antonoplous
Spiropoulos
Gentilini (Cephalonia)
Please note that an awful lot of house wine in Naxos is imported by the container load from Italy. However, we quite like it - easy to drink and it doesn't make you ill (much).
'One barrel of wine can work more miracles than a churchload of saints' - Italian proverb.
Greek brandy (often called "koniak") - in our opinion - knocks spots of brandies from other countries. Most people's experience of it is of 5 or 7 star Metaxa (Metaxa is produced from Savatiano, Sultanina and Black Corinth, twice distilled, married with aged muscat wine from Samos & Lemnos, blended with a secret botanical mix and then aged in hand made limousine oak casks) which is far too sweet to our taste. Far better is 3 star or, if you can get it, no star from the barrel. This latter will often be referred to as "bomba" meaning, something of the order, of cheap/substitute/moonshine. Promponas on the Paralia sells it loose by the kilo and is highly recommended. I have just read a reporter in the Telegraph advising that only seven star should be drunk - he has no idea what he is talking about.
Other spirits or liqueurs are:
Ouzo - everyone knows this, far better drunk, I think, with water.
Raki - shouldn't be drunk at all as far as I'm concerned. Of the same sort of family as grappa, schnapps, etc.
Citron - possibly unique to Naxos. Made from the leaves of a wild citrus tree (Citrus Medica). Tastes a bit like lemon washing up liquid but pleasant enough in small quantities. Quite often offered "on the house".
Not so ubiquitous as of yore - Banana liqueur - used to be quite often given at the end of a meal.
A pleasant, long drink made from Greek brandy is Petraki Special. The claim is that this was invented on Skiathos by a tourist called Peter.
About an inch of brandy in the tall glasses brandy is quite often served in
Lots of ice
Juice of half lemon
Topped up with lemonade preferably Evi.
Two excellent and interesting sites about Greek wines are: