Ktima Gaias
Producer: Gaia Wines
GAIA farms Agiorgitiko at Koutsi and gives this bottling at least twelve months in new French barriques chosen for wood origin, toast and construction.
Price: €31-33 at retail
Nemea runs from the plain below the ancient sanctuary of Zeus up into the hills towards Lake Stymphalia. The zone covers about 32,000 stremmata of vineyard, of which some 25,000 are planted to Agiorgitiko, and it is the only Greek PDO that crosses two regional units, Corinthia and the Argolida. Altitude does most of the work here: the plain around the town gives soft, fruit forward reds, the villages above 600 metres pick two weeks later and keep acidity and colour that carry a wine for a decade. Around three dozen cellars belong to the PDO Nemea Winemakers Association, and most of them take visitors by appointment.
Drink your way through Nemea
Wine festivals coming up in Nemea
All Nemea wine festivalsMap of Nemea
Every vineyard, tasting room, wine bar and cellar we cover in Nemea, pinned. Click a pin for the page.
Signature wines of Nemea
The iconic bottles that define Nemea.
Megas Oenos
Producer: Domaine Skouras
Eighty per cent Agiorgitiko with Cabernet Sauvignon, eighteen months in new French barrique and six in bottle. The blend that shows Agiorgitiko carrying Bordeaux structure.
Price: €27-29 at retail
Grande Cuvee Nemea
Producer: Domaine Skouras
Skouras takes the malolactic through barrel and then gives this straight Agiorgitiko a year in new French oak. Red clay fruit with the tannin structure left intact.
Price: €21-23 at retail
Semeli Nemea Grande Reserve
Producer: Semeli Estate
Semeli holds this back for eighteen months in new oak and at least two further years in bottle, so it arrives on the shelf already drinking rather than waiting.
Price: €24-26 at retail
Old Vines Ktima Papaioannou Nemea
Producer: Papaioannou Wines
A selected old vine parcel at Ancient Nemea given a year in barrel and a year in bottle before release. This is where vine age shows up as spice rather than weight.
Price: €22-24 at retail
Microclima Ktima Papaioannou Nemea
Producer: Papaioannou Wines
Drawn from a selected old vine block and given twenty months in barrel plus a further year in bottle. Papaioannou's cellaring bottle rather than its dinner bottle.
Price: €44-48 at retail
Vineyards to know in Nemea
A handful of the estates we send friends to when they are in Nemea.
Athanasiou Winery
Family winery on the main road through Nemea town. The Athanasiou family has grown vines since 1855 and built this cellar in 2007 for Agiorgitiko, Assyrtiko and Moschofilero.
Barafakas Winery
Third generation family cellar in Nemea town. First vinification in 2002, first bottling in 2004, and today 13 labels drawn from 18 hectares of owned vineyard.
Bizios Estate
Ilias Bizios farms 10 hectares of organically grown vines at 850 metres above the village of Asprokampos, the highest ground in the Nemea PDO zone.
Domaine Anagennisi
Small Ancient Nemea cellar founded in 2006 in the family's rebuilt winery. Own rooted vines over 45 years old at 340 metres on red sandy clay loam.
Domaine Skouras
Founded by George Skouras, the winery moved from Gymno to Malandreni in the Argolida corner of the Nemea zone. Agiorgitiko and Moschofilero sit beside Bordeaux varieties.
GAIA Wines
Gaia began in 1994 and runs two cellars, one at Koutsi in Nemea and one on Santorini. The 7 hectare Koutsi vineyard feeds the Gaia Estate Agiorgitiko.
Sub-appellations of Nemea
Nemea (Nemea/Νεμέα/Nemea town/Achladias/Xerokampos/Karfoxylia/Vareies)
The town at the centre of the zone and the seat of the municipality, with most of the plain's working cellars within a few streets or a short drive of the square.
Also: Xerokampos
Archaia Nemea (Archaia Nemea/Ancient Nemea/Αρχαία Νεμέα/Irakleio)
Five kilometres from the town, a small village of about 300 people wrapped around one of Greece's major archaeological sites and some of the appellation's oldest cellars.
Archaies Kleones (Archaies Kleones/Ancient Kleonai/Αρχαίες Κλεωνές/Kontostavlos)
The first wine village you reach coming in from Corinth, built on a slope under Mount Fokas with the Kleones plain of vines and olives spread below it.
Asprokampos (Asprokampos/Asprokambos/Ασπρόκαμπος)
Mountain village on the Stymphalia side at 760 metres, where harvest runs about two weeks behind the plain and the wines keep their acidity.
Koutsi (Koutsi/Κούτσι)
A village of 140 people on a vine covered shoulder northeast of the town, with a run of modern cellars and a long standing name for its fruit.
Leontio (Leontio/Λεόντιο/Lionti)
Tidy village of traditional houses at 351 metres on the road to Gymno, ringed by Agiorgitiko and home to two of the country's vine nurseries.
Nemea wine, FAQ
When is the best time to visit Nemea for wine?
Peak wine-travel season in Nemea is spring through autumn, with harvest the standout window.
Do I need an appointment to taste at Nemea estates?
classified-growth and grand-cru estates require booking days to weeks ahead; smaller family domaines often take walk-ins midweek.
What hours do Nemea cellars and tasting rooms keep?
most estates open 10:00 to 17:00 by appointment, often closed Sunday and Monday.
How does tipping work at Nemea tastings?
tipping is not expected at tastings; buying a bottle from the cellar door is the customary thank-you.
What is the one wine to try in Nemea?
If you only open one bottle, open Ktima Gaias by GAIA Wines. It is the wine most associated with Nemea.