Administrative area · Greece
Peloponnese
The southern Greek peninsula, containing Nemea and Mantinia and most of the country’s vineyard.
Locally: Πελοπόννησος
Agiorgitiko that is soft, plummy and low in acidity at low altitude, firmer and fresher higher up. Moschofilero that is floral, pink-skinned and crisp.
About Peloponnese
The Peloponnese holds a large share of Greece’s vineyard and its two best-known mainland PDOs: Nemea for red Agiorgitiko and Mantinia for white Moschofilero.
Altitude does most of the work. Nemea’s vineyards run from 250 m to over 800 m, and the wines from the higher sites are markedly fresher and more structured.
Patras, in the north-west, makes the fortified Mavrodaphne, a sweet red long used as a communion wine.
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.
Nemea Agiorgitiko
Serve at 15–17°C (cellar cool).
Try with fillet steak, grilled chicken or lamb kofta.
Where to go next
Places worth trying if you like this one — neighbours, rivals, and the obvious step across.
Sources
Sources consulted
- Wines of Greece — Greek Wine Federation