In this third installment of our “Days of Wine and Music” series, we will briefly discuss the wines of Greece and complete the discussion next week in the fourth installment. In the fifth and sixth installments, we will introduce a Greek winery whose owner is an ideal candidate for our series and share her views on the subject.
A number of years ago we published a book entitled Drinking Japan: It’s NOT Just Sake, which indeed it is not. If we were writing a similar book about Greek wines, we are certain that our subtitle would be It’s NOT Just Retsina, as indeed it is not. For those readers not familiar with this style of wine that is so closely, but not exclusively, associated with Greece, a brief explanation is in order. The Greeks and Romans were heavy hitters in the ancient wine world and used pine resin to line the amphorae in which they shipped their product. The resin proved effective in preventing spoilage, but as might be suspected, some of it leached into, and later was eventually deliberately added to, the wine and naturally became part of its flavor profile. When barrels replaced amphorae, which was a kind of video-killed-the-radio-star phenomenon, the Romans abandoned the practice, but the Greeks, having developed a taste for the pine, continued to savor the flavor of the sap, even in the age of the wooden cask. Retsina is, of course, a style of wine, not a varietal. Two commonly used varieties in the production of Retsina are Savatiano and Roditis.
From our perspective, Retsina has played both a positive and negative role with respect to Greece’s other wine offerings. While there is little doubt that when done right, Retsina is one of the most interesting and pleasurable beverages to consume, it is also so emblematic of Greek wines in general that its very presence tends to eclipse the significant diversity that is characteristic of the world of Greek wines. More on this next week.
*Images courtsey of
Drinking Japan 