Greece Mini Series: Intro to Greek Wines with Konstantinos Lazarakis, MW

Did you know that Greece makes wine? And not just table wine, but incredible age worthy wines worthy of top dollar around the globe? Greek winemaking goes back to ancient times, but in the past two decades or so, Greece has started on a revolutionary journey, making a lot of exciting changes to its winemaking production. In this mini-series on Greece, join me as I explore Greece as a wine region, hear from experts, and share what I have learned about the world of Greek wines. Join me for the first episode in this series, Episode 112: An Introduction to Greece with Konstantinos Lazarakis, MW.

There is such a rich history of winemaking in Greece, going back five millennia. In the golden age of Greece, around the 5th century BCE, Greece was the most important wine-producing country in the world. In fact, the first “sommeliers” in history came from Greece! They may not have had the same tests and courses that we use today, but these sommeliers studied wine, reported on wine, and were the wine experts of their time. Over the course of its history, Greece has been invaded and ceded into other empires, but throughout the centuries, Greek wine remained on the tables of Greek homes. In Lazarakis’s words, “We would always consume food with wine. If we are consuming food without wine then it’s just breakfast.” Wine became ingrained in the food culture of Greece.

Compared to other wine-producing regions, like France or Spain, Greece is relatively small. There is a limited production, which results in Greek wines not being mainstream. Sometimes it can be challenging to find Greek wines in a local supermarket, specialty wine store, or restaurant. However, for those who are excited about something different, those who want to try something new, or for those who want to expand their wine knowledge, Greek wines are a perfect area to explore! Greece has over 300 grape varieties that are unique to Greece and only about 40 of these are known to modern consumers. This allows for so many wines to explore that are going to be different than what the average consumer is familiar with from other regions around the world. It is such an exciting wine region to learn more about and taste wines from!

Unfortunately, some wine consumers might have a negative perception of Greek wines because of a general belief about lack of quality and because of beliefs of retsina as a lower quality wine. Traditionally, Greek winemakers have been flavoring wines since ancient times to help with prolonging the life of the wine, especially while traveling. Retsina uses fresh pine resin in the fermenting process and then removes the pine resin (when the solids are separated from the fermented juice). Some wine consumers and even experts will comment that they don’t like retsina because of the flavoring process or the addition of pine resin, but Lazarakis points out that if you are drinking a wine aged in oak then you are having resins of the oak changing the profile of the wine. There is also an increased interest in aromatized wines like vermouth or fino (dry) sherry, which is similar to the aspect of flavoring retsina. It’s all about the amount of time, resin, and flavoring that goes into each of these wines. Lazarakis argues that if consumers like these types of wines then they should try retsina. There are around 20-25 experts who make retsina using some of the highest quality ingredients, resin, and processes, and this results in some really good retsinas. If consumers put in the time and effort to find some of these wines - or better yet, travel to Greece! - then they will be surprised by the quality! Additionally, consumers should remember that with over 300 grape varieties, there are so many great wines that Greece has to offer!

Finally, toward the end of my interview with Lazarakis he shared some exciting information about Greek wines. He shared a little about the movement of transplanting grape varieties native to Greece to other countries. Lazarakis has been a big advocate and supporter of this process and it both allows for more Greek varieties of wine to become accessible to more people and it also points more people toward the original sources of these wines back in Greece. So interesting! There are also some other exciting developments in Greek winemaking as more winemakers are looking to the wisdom of the previous generations to see what wines they were making and there are more female winemakers entering the wine production scene.

This truly was a bucket-list interview for me for this new mini-series and I hope you listen to the full episode to hear our whole conversation. Konstantinos Lazarakis was the first Greek to become a Master of Wine and he is truly an expert on Greek wines. I was so excited to interview him for the podcast and it was the perfect way to kick off this new series on Greece. His book, The Wines of Greece, is a phenomenal resource to learn Greek wines, both a summary of the history of Greek wines and also current wine varietals and wine-making practices. 

Make sure to subscribe to the Wine CEO Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts so that you don’t miss any of the upcoming episodes in this mini-series on Greece. I can’t wait to share more with you about this amazing wine region! Yamas!