The bottles that define Nemea: what they are, who makes them and what they cost.
The iconic bottles that define Nemea: what they are, who makes them and what they cost.
GAIA farms Agiorgitiko at Koutsi and gives this bottling at least twelve months in new French barriques chosen for wood origin, toast and construction.
Tasting notes: Deep red, aromatically clear and complex, rich fruit under vanilla and clove from new barrique, full in body with a long finish.
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.
Tasting notes: Garnet with violet highlights, red and black fruit laced with clove, black pepper, tobacco and leather, silky with gentle tannins and a long close.
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.
Tasting notes: Deep ruby, dense on the nose with sour cherry, blueberry and aromatic herbs over a mineral edge, then earth, tobacco and spice with very fine tannins.
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.
Tasting notes: Deep garnet and viscous, ripe red fruit with spice and herbs, dense and round with velvety tannins and a chocolate and cinnamon finish.
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.
Tasting notes: Red fruit with pepper, nutmeg, herbs and vanilla, full and balanced on the palate, the tannin firm but settled after a year in barrel and a year in bottle.
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.
Tasting notes: Red fruit and spice with vanilla from twenty months in barrel, herbs and nutmeg underneath, full and balanced with firm tannin still in reserve.
Two vineyards on the hills around the Nemea plain, both over sixty years old, twelve months in Bertrange forest oak and bottled unfiltered. Vine age is the argument.
Tasting notes: Deep red violet, gooseberry, pomegranate and black tea, full bodied and balanced with velvety tannins and a spicy close.
Palivou splits the fourteen months of ageing between new French barrels and clay amphorae, which keeps the black fruit forward while the tannin stays dense.
Tasting notes: Concentrated black cherry and blackberry with liquorice, coffee, roasted nuts and chocolate, dense tannins and a white pepper finish.
Fruit from the Tsintari vineyard on the acropolis of Ancient Phlious, planted in 1962, at Petri outside Nemea town. Bottled unfiltered, so expect a deposit.
Tasting notes: Deep ruby with garnet edges, ripe red and black fruit over oak, vanilla and sweet spice, then sour cherry, black cherry jam and coffee on a long palate.
Barafakas takes fruit from the Ai-Ilias slopes, gives it over a year in French oak and then holds it two more years in bottle before it goes on sale.
Tasting notes: Sour cherry, white pepper, forest fruit and spice, generous in the mouth with ripe sweet tannins and an aromatic return of peach compote.
Four months in steel, no barrel at any point, and Mitravelas asks you to serve it cool. The counter argument to the idea that Agiorgitiko has to arrive oaked.
Tasting notes: Intense ruby, fresh cherry and berries with cinnamon and nutmeg, round and youthful with soft tannins and a fruity, medium finish.
A PDO Nemea with no barrel ageing at all, from parcels between 250 and 400 metres. Lafazanis calls it a fresh version of Nemea and the acidity backs that up.
Tasting notes: Medium ruby, red fruit with a discreet black edge, vegetal hints and spice, dry with cool acidity, round tannins and a plum and cherry close.
High altitude Agiorgitiko from Asprokampos and Koutsi in a pale, light frame. GAIA asks you to treat it like a white wine and the acidity makes that easy.
Tasting notes: Pale and bright, fresh red fruit on the nose, light fresh fruit on a slim frame, with the acidity doing most of the work.
Moschofilero fermented at 15 to 16 degrees so the aromatics survive the ferment. The white to pour when the Agiorgitiko needs a break, at under twelve euros.
Tasting notes: Evening primrose, rose and citrus on the nose, exotic fruit and citrus on a light body, crisp and slightly acidic at the close.
Seventy year old Roditis vines at 650 metres, fermented without intervention and bottled without filtration. The old Peloponnese white grape taken seriously.
Tasting notes: White yellow, melon, bergamot, pear and bitter orange with kumquat and green apple, full bodied with elegant acidity and a refreshing close.
Assyrtiko grown at 600 metres in Argolida and given eight months in barrel. A white with the weight to sit at the same table as a barrel aged Nemea red.
Tasting notes: Deep yellow, citrus and stone fruit with vanilla and sweet spice from eight months in oak, rich and full with a strong aftertaste.
Peak wine-travel season in Nemea is spring through autumn, with harvest the standout window.
classified-growth and grand-cru estates require booking days to weeks ahead; smaller family domaines often take walk-ins midweek.
most estates open 10:00 to 17:00 by appointment, often closed Sunday and Monday.
tipping is not expected at tastings; buying a bottle from the cellar door is the customary thank-you.
If you only open one bottle, open Ktima Gaias by GAIA Wines. It is the wine most associated with Nemea.