You hear a lot of things about a lot of things when you talk to as many people as I do in the good name of wine promotion. And one of the points that gets raised from time to time about the difficulty in understanding the wines of Greece is that "They're just so, well....Greek!" they say gesturing to the long words on the label.
There is good news in regards to at least one of these unpronounceable varieties. Agiorgitiko (Ahh-your-yeetiko)-as in (not-my-yeetiko) means Saint George in Greek, and sometimes the winemakers just call it that. Saint George. Right there on the label in plain English.
Agiorgitiko, aka Saint George, aka the blood of Hercules, is the top variety in the Nemea region of Southern Greece (we just had a killer single vineyard one from Aivalis called Monopati at the Giorgio's dinner last night.) It comes in all shapes and sizes, from soft and tannin-less little fruit bombs to monsters like the Aivalis that will remind more to Brunello than Beaujolais. There are many wines well worth your time and attention.
But don't take my word for it, check out this thoroughly convincing and informative blog post by our good friend and fellow Greek wine aficionado Nick Baldwin at his new site Nicholasbaldwin.com, Blood of Hercules.
http://www.nicholasbaldwin.com/blog/2013/11/13/blood-of-hercules#comments-52838503e4b043b800f024eb
"If you ever had the chance to try a wine made of St. George, I highly recommend it. Like us Greeks, you too will then have the Blood of Hercules in you."
We couldn't have said it better ourselves!
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