Don’t sleep on Agiorgitiko! You may not be familiar with Greek wines - or know how to pronounce them (we didn’t!) - but this is a wine that deserves to be on your must-learn list! Agiorgitiko is a hidden gem in the wine world - a versatile red that comes in different styles, goes well with tons of foods, and can be found at very reasonable prices. It is a perfect complement with Greek food, obviously, but this is a great wine for everything from a cookout to a romantic, fancy dinner. The two wines we tasted and reviewed in this episode are very different in style, which is part of the wonder of this fantastic wine. There are red wines that the Gamay or Beaujolais lover will like, and wines that the Bordeaux or Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon lover in your life will be super happy with. Listen in to find out more about how to select the different styles of this wine, and learn about what makes this wine so special. Wines reviewed in this episode: 2022 Gaia Monograph Agiorgitiko, 2021 Skouras Saint George Agiorgitiko.
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Show Notes
Episode129: WTF is Agiorgitiko? 00:00
Hello! And welcome to The Wine Pair Podcast. I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and this is my wife and my wine pairing partner in crime, Carmela. And we are The Wine Pair!
If you are new to our podcast, here is a quick orientation! Each week, we explore a different wine varietal or blend—like Pinot Noir or Bordeaux or Agiorgitiko (ah yor YEE ti ko) — and dive into what makes it unique, special, and worth learning about. Our goal is to help you expand your wine knowledge in a fun way that normal people can understand. We also taste and review 2-3 wines that are under $20 each, and share our scores and recommendations to help you find great wines without breaking the bank. So, thank you so much for joining us! And, we are proud to say that Decanter Magazine calls us fun, irreverent, chatty, and entertaining
Carmela, it has been a while since we have done a couple of things. First, it has been a minute since we have done a WTF episode, and we love doing these episodes because we generally get to try a wine we don’t know much about, or anything about, and see what the dealio is and if we should add it to our list of go-to wines, and even better, see if it is a wine we should explore if and when we travel to the country it comes from.
The other thing that we haven’t done for a while is talk about Greek wines. We did an episode wayyyyy back in March two years ago on wines to drink at a Greek restaurant. But since then, we have only done one other Greek wine in our 128 previous episodes, and so that is a real travesty and something we need to fix.
Because, you know Carmela, they have been making wine in Greece for a longggg time - since at least 6,500 years ago, and because they are making some pretty good but pretty underrated and underappreciated wines in Greece. So we thought, hey, it’s about damn time that we did another episode on Greek wine. Amiright?!?!
There are several Greek wines that are worthy of spending time on, and one in particular called Xinomaro I am a bit obsessed about because it is supposed to be Greece’s answer to Barolo. Maybe someday we will do an episode on it, but it is hard to find and usually not super inexpensive.
Instead, this week we are going to be tasting and review the great Greek wine known as Agiorgitiko (ah yor YEE ti ko) which I am embarrassed and ashamed to admit I have been saying wrong all along. Agiorgitiko is sometimes compared to Sangiovese or Merlot, which is cool, but more about that in a second.
Because I want to spend a couple of minutes on the Greek wine industry because, heck, part of what we want to do is edumcate you and us on wine stuff. Ok?!?
Now, although Greece has been making wine for a long ass time, their reputation for wine making in the modern age has been spotty at best, which is probably why we don’t hear a lot about it today. And, while they have really started to come into their own over the past 20 years or so, they are still only about the 19th or so largest producer of wine in the world. For example, they make more wine in China, New Zealand, Romania, Brazil, and the country of Georgia than they do in Greece. So step it up, Greece!
There are over 1,200 wineries in Greece today, and that number has been increasing for years. What is really cool about wine production in Greece, though, is that they really focus on indigenous grape varieties. In fact, did you know, Carmela, that over 90% of the wine grapes grown in Greece are native to Greece? That’s facts. Not alternative facts, but real facts.
Outside of Xinomavro and Agiorgitiko, the largest wine grape production is actually for a white wine grape known as Savatiano, and other popular varieties include Roditis, Liatiko, and Assyrtiko, but there are supposed to be over 200 different wine grape varieties in Greece.
As I mentioned, Greek wines are starting to be recognized as quite good, and are supposed to go well not only with Greek foods, but with Mediterranean foods in general, which should not be a surprise - since Greece is in the Mediterranean. Greek wines can generally be described as acidic, tannic, and with good minerality, all qualities of good wines. Maybe the biggest thing that is standing in the way of us being more familiar with Greek wines is that they are hard to pronounce. Maybe that is why we don’t see them on menus here in the US that often.
So, we think Greek wines are a definite must learn, and today we have two Agiorgitiko wines we are going to try to tell you what we think and if either of them are worth seeking out . . .
But first . . . we have to do our shameless plug.
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And, as we do every week, we’ll tell you someone we think you should recommend The Wine Pair Podcast to so we can keep growing listeners. This week, we want you to recommend us to anyone who loves Greece, or who calls those Greek sandwiches jie-roes instead of yee-roes
ARTICLES and LINKS
- https://winefolly.com/tips/wine-tasting-challenge-xinomavro/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_wine
- https://www.jancisrobinson.com/learn/wine-regions/greece
Topic: WTF is Agiorgitoko? 10:22
Ok, Carmela, let’s learn just what the F Agiorgitiko is.
Of all the Greek wines, Agiorgitiko, spelled A-G-I-O-R-G-I-T-I-K-O, is probably the one that is the easiest to find in the US. You can find it at Total Wine, of all places. Don’t get me started on Total Wine - I do need to go there more often because I know people do buy wine there, but I have to say, I think they suck. Which is why I am surprised that they have Greek wines. But I digress. We’ll do a minisode on Total Wine one of these days.
Back to the subject. Agiorgitiko is translated as St. George’s grape, and I will say that St. George is like super popular all over Europe, but that is another digression. The wine was originally called the Blood of Hercules, which is kind of cool.
The wine is most famously from the area of Nemea in the Peloponnese which is the famous peninsula in the south of Greece and where the cities of Sparta, Corinth, and Argos were located. About 80% of vineyards in Nemea grow Agiorgitiko grapes.
Agiorgitiko is a grape that likes heat, but evidently does best at higher altitudes where it can cool off at night. It is also a bit of a problematic grape, because it ripens late, doesn’t do well with water stress - which many great wine grapes actually do really well with - and it is susceptible to disease, which is not dangerous from a drinking standpoint, but can impact the yield of the plants and the ripeness the grapes attain.
According to a number of articles which you can find links to in our show notes, Agiorgitiko is a very versatile grape, and can be made into a wide variety of styles, from soft and fruity to spicy and tannic. They also make rosé from Agriogitiko, and we actually did taste a rosé in a Valentine’s episode on rosés a few years ago which we both liked and gave an 8 out of 10 rating. In case you are curious, it was a 2021 Gaia (pronounced Yay-ya) 14-18h Agiorgitiko Rosé, and we have a Gaia wine we are trying again today. But not Rosé. Ok?!?
According to some experts, the best examples of Agiorgitiko tend to have moderate to low acidity, red fruit taste and smells, and spice. There are styles that are more jammy - which tend to come from warmer areas - and more acidic - which tend to come from cooler and higher altitudes. From a style standpoint, while sometimes Agiorgitiko is compared to Sangiovese, my feeling is that the average is going to be a bit more like Cabernet Sauvignon or a Bordeaux style wine based on the lower acid.
There is currently no cru like classification system in Greece, so for now it looks like we will just have to research on our own who the experts say are the best producers and decide for ourselves what we like.
On that note, and we have said this before, our palette tends to prefer less fruit forward, jammy, and oaky wines. So, we tend to not like wines that Robert Parker likes. The wines we have today, which we’ll go over in a minute, have good ratings from Wine Enthusiast, but I honestly do not trust their ratings as much as I do Wine Spectator and Vinous, so you will have to just trust us!
On that note, I think it’s time to learn a little more about the specific wines we are drinking today. Whaddya say?
ARTICLES and LINKS
Agiorgitiko Wines We Chose for This Episode 15:49
As usual, the wines we have chosen for this episode are under $20, although one of them was on sale which is why it was under 20 bucks, and both of them should be relatively easy to find because I bought them at wine.com. While I don’t think Agiorgitiko is going to be super easy to find, if you go to a wine shop with a decent selection, you should be able to find it.
The first wine we are trying is the 2022 Gaia (pronounced Yay-ya although it is spelled differently) Monograph Agiorgitiko, and Gaia is a pretty large producer in Greece so you might find their wines on the shelf. There was a tech sheet for this wine, which I always like, and they even say that the right way to pronounce the name is Yay-ya, which is why I know now, and why I realized that I have been saying the name of the wine wrong!
They say that their wines are grown at about 1,800 feet where it is relatively cool, and they call out that this is a wine with good tannins and a balance of acidity. Because of the altitude and climate, I am expecting this wine to be a little more Sangiovese like, and actually Wine Enthusiast compared it to a Beaujolais or Gamay, so it could be fruity and juicy.
Another reason I think that is because the wines are fermented and stored in stainless steel, so unoaked, and they have almost no residual sugar despite not being very high in alcohol at 12.5%. The wine is also Vegan if that is important to you.
The second wine we are going to drink and review today is the 2021 Skouras Saint George Agiorgitiko, and since Agiorgitiko is already named for Saint George, it feels like they are just saying the name twice!
This wine also had good information on the website, which is helpful. They say the wine is fernented (sic) and macerated in stainless steel, and then aged in used French barriques for 12 months and then 6 more in the bottle. So, there should be some oak, but since they are using used French oak, it should be relatively tame even though they are using the smaller barriques. They do age this wine longer than the Gaia, and the alcohol is much higher at 13.9%, so I am expecting a very different wine drinking experience. Some have compared this wine to a Merlot, but also describe it as being smooth.
But, I think that is enough information - let’s get to drinking! We’ll take a quick break and be right back. And, if you have these wines or similar wines, drink along with us!
ARTICLES and LINKS
- https://winebow-files.s3.amazonaws.com/public/vintage/techsheets//604680_GAIA_GAIA-Monograph-Agiorgitiko_2022.pdf?VersionId=fGLn7T_JruJQSPLeks6iq6oYo1U9zG86
- https://skouras.gr/en/wines/reds/saint-george-nemea
- https://www.astorwines.com/item/13393
2022 Gaia Monograph Agiorgitiko, 2021 Skouras Saint George Agiorgitiko Wine Tasting, Pairing, and Review 20:08
Wine: Gaia Monograph Agiorgitiko (Click here to find this wine on wine.com. We may receive compensation if you purchase wine)
Region: Greece, Nemea
Year: 2022
Price: $15.99
Retailer: wine.com
Alcohol: 12.5%
Grapes: Agiorgitiko
Professional Rating: WE 90
Screw Cap!
What we tasted and smelled in this Gaia Monograph Agiorgitiko:
- On the nose: Cherry, fruity, juicy, baking spice, dried currant, smoke, leather, wood, fresh, Gamay-like, incense when swirled
- In the mouth: Fruity, stewed cherry, cherry jam, red plum, tannic, dry, tart on the initial taste, a little bitter on the back-end, would be good chilled. Good for a summer party
Food to pair with this Gaia Monograph Agiorgitiko: Great with Greek food and Mediterranean food, falafel, gyro meat, souvlaki, Greek salad, pizza, Italian food, lasagna, pasta puttanesca, pretty versatile. Grilled meats, grilled chicken. A good summer wine.
As a reminder on our rating scale, we rate on a scale of 1-10, where 7 and above means that we would buy it, and 4 and below means that we are likely to pour it down the sink, and a 5 or 6 means we are likely to drink it and finish it, but we are probably not going to buy it.
Gaia Monograph Agiorgitiko Wine Rating:
- Joe: 8/10
- Carmela: 8/10
Wine: Skouras Saint George Agiorgitiko (Click here to find this wine on wine.com. We may be compensated if you purchase wine)
Region: Greece, Nemea
Year: 2021
Price: $19.99 (on sale)
Retailer: wine.com
Alcohol: 13.9%
Grapes: Agiorgitiko
Professional Rating: WE 89
What we tasted and smelled in this Skouras Saint George Agiorgitiko:
- On the nose: Rich, smoky, wood, tobacco, red fruit, black plum, pepper, clove, paprika, cayenne, blackberry bramble, vanilla extract, black currant, very complex
- In the mouth: Warm, tart, lush mouthfeel, Merlot like, very fruity, plum, black fruit, spice, pepper, blackberry, leather, stone, clay pot, nice oakiness, for bigger red wine lovers
Food to pair with this Skouras Saint George Agiorgitiko: Very versatile with food, great with steak, pasta, pizza, burgers, Mexican foods, sausage McMuffin with egg, egg on toast, grilled sausage and pepper, gyro
Skouras Saint George Agiorgitiko Wine Rating:
- Joe: 8/10
- Carmela: 7/10
Which one of these are you finishing tonight?
- Carmela: Gaia Monograph Agiorgitiko
- Joe: Skouras Saint George Agiorgitiko
Taste profiles expected from Agiorgitiko 34:30
- General
- Wine Paradigm: Rich and refined with aromas of red and black fruits, herbs and spice, followed by rich fruit flavors of plum, red cherry and blackberry, along with spicy pepper and oaky notes.
- Wine Folly: Raspberry, Blackberry, Plum Sauce, Black Pepper, Nutmeg
- Gaia Monograph Agiorgitiko
- Winery: this red-purple wine has a fruit-forward, medium bodied palate, ripe with flavors of cherry, pomegranate and a hint of butterscotch. It is easy-going with smooth, soft tannins and a fruity finish.
- WE: A bright, easy-drinking dry red wine with infinite food-pairing potential, this juicy red wine made from Greece’s indigenous Agiorgitiko grape is a good bottle to suggest to the Cru Beaujolais lover looking for something new. There are tart raspberries, blackberries and sour cherries bursting onto the palate, and the long finish is tart with a lovely tannic texture. Serve with a slight chill
- Skouras Saint George Agiorgitiko
- Winery: The nose reveals aromas of blackberries, raspberries and ripe strawberries with just a touch of tobacco and spices such as clove and cinnamon. It is a medium-bodied wine with elegant structure, balanced acidity and very ripe, elegant tannins. The finish is moderately-long, dominated by red fruits and followed by sweet vanilla and black pepper
- WE: Clove, thyme and dried fennel aromas complement fruity black-cherry notes on the nose. . . The light-bodied palate has ripe red and black fruits plus faint cinnamon flavors, indicative of the winemaking process. The results are easy drinking and enjoyable, with balanced fruit and acid followed by velvety tannins on the long finish.
Outro and how to find The Wine Pair Podcast 37:36
Ok, so, Carmela, it’s time for us to go, but before we do, we want to thank you very much for listening to us - and if you haven’t done so yet, now would be the perfect time to subscribe to our podcast and also a fantastic time to leave us a nice rating and review on our website or Apple podcasts or other podcast service - and it is an awesome and free way to support us and help us grow listeners.
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Alright, with that, we are going to sign off, so thanks again, and we will see you next time. And, as we say, life is short, so stop drinking shitty wine.
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