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By Ray Isle, Food & Wine
October 2004
It's hard to say how buzz about a wine region gets started.
Sometimes it's due to a group of young winemakers full of
energy and conviction. Sometimes it's because of an
impassioned importer who has decided to take up the cause of a
compelling varietal that has rarely turned up in the United
States before. Whatever the source of the buzz, the seven
places described here have it. But because the world is still
finding out about these up-and-comers, their red wines are
still terrific values. Read on to learn more about these
regions, including the top bottles to buy and the best recipes
to pair with them.
...
Country Greece
Grape Agiorgitiko
Not that long ago, Americans went to Greek restaurants for
cheap, hearty food. Now, all across America, Greek food is
getting ambitious, as chefs like Jim Botsacos at Manhattan's
Molyvos and Pano Karatassos at Atlanta's Kyma update
traditional dishes. And now there are more and more terrific
Greek wines to have with these fresh flavors-wines that are
very different from the thin, sharp, ill-tempered ones of the
past.
In fact, head to a good wine shop right now and say one
word: Nemea. Located in the eastern part of the Peloponnesian
peninsula, southwest of Athens, this region of red-earth
vineyards and craggy hills, dotted with ruined pillars and
with the slopes of Mount Cyllene rising in the distance, makes
some of the finest red wines in all of Greece. Vinified from
the Agiorgitiko grape and typically aged for a year in oak,
the wines from Nemea are full-bodied with soft tannins and a
lush feel, the flavors shading from red cherry to plum. The
2000 and 2001 vintages are especially terrific.
BOTTLES TO BUY
The quality
of the 2000 Papantonis Meden Agan ($20), a
medium-bodied wine with bright red-cherry notes, matches its
name, which means "nothing to excess." The richer 2001 Gaia
Estate Red ($50) tastes of cherry compote with a hint of
gaminess. The 2001 Palivou Vineyards ($20), a lovely
wine full of deep blackberry and chocolate flavors, has
flavors similar to an Australian Shiraz. "Then again,
Australian Shiraz tastes much like Agiorgitiko," winemaker
George Palivou notes, "because Agiorgitiko has a 3,000-year
head start."
PERFECT PAIRING
Rich and
subtly spicy, this moussaka will change your preconceptions
about Greek food the way a good Nemean Agiorgitiko will change
your mind about Greek wines. Burgundy-trained vintner George
Skouras's 2001 Domaine Skouras Nemea Grande Cuvée
($21), with oak notes and dark cherry flavors, is
sophisticated enough to match it.
Ray Isle is the managing editor of Wine &
Spirits magazine.
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