Administrative area · Greece
Macedonia
Northern Greece, and the heartland of Xinomavro — the country’s most structured and longest-lived red variety.
Locally: Μακεδονία
Xinomavro that is pale, high in tannin and acidity, with sour cherry, dried tomato, olive and earth. Severe young; excellent at ten years.
About Macedonia
Greek Macedonia runs across the north of the country and contains Naoussa, Amyndeon, Goumenissa and Drama.
Xinomavro — the name means "acid black" — is its signature. It is high in both tannin and acidity, pale in colour, and develops dried tomato, olive and spice with age. The comparison with Nebbiolo is made constantly and is well founded structurally.
Amyndeon, at altitude on a plateau, makes the lightest and most aromatic Xinomavro and also a good rosé.
No authority delimits this name or attaches rules to it. A political unit — an Italian region, an English county, a US county — used as a wine area because that is how the industry and its readers talk about it, not because a wine authority delimited it. That does not make it less real or less useful — it means nothing legal follows from it, and you will not generally find it on a label as a controlled designation.
Grapes
Wines from here
What to eat, and how to serve it
Derived from this region’s signature styles. Each is listed separately, because a region does not have one serving temperature.
Naoussa Xinomavro
Serve at 16–18°C (cool room temperature).
Try with moussaka, lamb kofta or fillet steak.
Where to go next
Places worth trying if you like this one — neighbours, rivals, and the obvious step across.
- Naoussa — Northern Greece’s benchmark region for Xinomavro, producing high-tannin, high-acid, savoury reds.
- Drama — A cool northern Greek region growing international varieties alongside indigenous ones, at the foot of the Rhodope mountains.
- Peloponnese — The southern Greek peninsula, containing Nemea and Mantinia and most of the country’s vineyard.
Sources
Sources consulted
- Wines of Greece — Greek Wine Federation