My view on how Greek varieties behave over time has been recorded in my online book 'The Vineyards and Wines of Greece' [1], but I am always in search of mature examples that will allow me to explore their ageing potential, even further. So, I seized the unique opportunity that I was given by the Wine Producers Association of Northern Greece Vineyards [2] to organize a MW Masterclass that allowed me to unearth first vintages (or the oldest available) from their cellars; a total of 13 wines. Altogether, 11 reds and 2 whites were included in the lineup, with the oldest bottle dating back to 1984, when I was still in junior high school, and the youngest being a 2007 vintage. Charmingly, many of these wines had never been presented to the public before.
But, what is a First Vintage for the producer? Let's consider this for a minute, because it's an important issue. The first vintage is essentially a journey towards the unknown; a first attempt, with all the limitations of such. Often the producer has not even decided on what style of wine he wants to produce, and one can imagine that the know-how of the 80's or the 90's differed drastically to that of today.
To make the workshop a little more exciting I asked the 50 participants to assess the ageing condition of each wine using the following scale and to vote on their choice, before I discussed my opinion:
1 Poor ageing
2 Satisfactory ageing
3 Good ageing
4 Excellent ageing
The results
The majority of the participants agreed that 9 of the wines ranked between 2 and 4 on the scale I had offered them, with most of the wines ranking 3 on this scale. This means that the development of the wines with ageing was very good, starting from the very first vintages, despite the restrictions I mentioned above. Participant votes are depicted in the table below, while my personal opinion is given in the short comments I have included on each wine.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Greek reds (many whites as well but only two wines were included in the lineup) age fantastically over a period of two decades, and even more, depending on vintage characteristics, variety and wine making philosophy. This, of course, is also dependent on the levels of ripeness that were sought after in that era. As the ''heat is on', with the combination of global warming and the desire for more phenolic ripeness, the bet will be to see if the wines with riper fruit and a richer character, of recent years, will do just as well in the future; the discussion remains open.