Paradise on Paros 🇬🇷

Hi Wine Friends,

I'm back from Greece with mixed emotions. On one hand I'm missing turquoise waters, whitewashed architecture, Mediterranean sunshine and daily Greek salads (not to mention the daily dose of 'vacation wine'). But, on the other hand, it's good to be home in Portland with drinkable tap water, access to a gym and sturdy plumbing.

I'm taking one last opportunity to talk about Greek wine, and tell you about the incredible wine scene I was surprised to find on the island of Paros. I summarized the three islands I visited in last week's newsletter but the TLDR on Paros is this: a small Cycladic island in the Aegean Sea with an economy based around fishing and all things from the sea. I wasn't expecting to find any sort of wine production, because I had never seen any wines from Paros in the States, so I just assumed it wasn't something they did (much like Naxos).

Side note, but I can't wait to dive deeper into Mediterranean wines with some of you this month in the wine club! Thank you to everyone who signed up for the club - I was overwhelmed by your excitement and support and I can't wait to get tasting. For more information on the club, or to join us in July, click below. And without further ado, let's dive into Paros!

Paros: A Paradise

It has only been in the last forty years that Greek wine has gotten back on its feet. And the same holds true for Paros. In the 1980's, Paros received not one but two Prodected Designatins of Origin stamps (appellation certifications similar to France's AOC, Italy's DOC and Spain's DO): Paros White PDO (from 100% Monemvasia) and Paros Red PDO (from at least 35% Mandilaria, but allowing up to 65% Monemvasia - the only Greek red PDO allowing the addition of white grapes).

The oldest winery on the island is Domaine Moraitis, now in its fourth generation of family-run production. Moraitis was the only Parian producer to weather the tumultuous World War decades and now has a robust production of over twenty different cuvées.

It was a treat to tour this historic winery, which had a deep museum-like cellar housing old concrete fermentation vessels now turned into bottle storage and examples of ancient Grecian wine presses and amphora.

My favorite Moraitis wines were an amphora-aged Monemvasia with six months of skin contact that tasted like beeswax, saffron and tangerine zest and their special 2019 Thapsana cuvée: another Monemvasia from high-elevation, hundred-year-old vines that was aged on the lees for a year in barrel then in bottle for another 4 years. It was superbly savory and textural while still retaining fresh notes of orange blossom and golden apple.

Domaine Myrsini

The most delightful wine surprise of the trip was discovering the fascinating wines of Domaine Myrsini. And it was totally by happenstance...

We were eating yet another fabulous dinner of grilled octopus, smoked eggplant and, of course, Greek salad, and I asked our server for a recommendation on a glass of red wine to accompany our roasted grouper.

I'd become accustomed over the course of the trip to getting short, no-frills responses when I asked wine questions. The Greeks aren't not wine savvy, but I suppose at most of the seasonal tourist spots where were dining, the servers are (understandably) not expected to all be seasoned sommeliers. But then we met Konstantinos.

Konstantinos is a Paros native who now works as a sommelier in Athens but returns to his home island every summer to work 'the high season.' He studied philosophy in Germany's Mosel Valley, of all places, which is where he fell in love with wine.

And thanks to his encyclopedic knowledge of Parian wines, and the impromptu tasting of an array of fascinating bottles that he excitedly brought to our table when he discovered I was a fellow wine nerd, I learned about Domaine Myrsini.

Now, sure, this romantic story inspires anyone who yearns to follow their dreams all the way to a Greek island. But the wines outshone even this beautiful tale.

Myrsini farms a tiny, 1.5-hectare organic vineyard on craggy soils of granite and gneiss, and also purchases fruit from old vineyards whose non-intervention ethos aligns with their own. Nicolas explained that this is a very different process than purchasing grapes in France or the United States, where vineyards are commercially operated and and at least 5 or 6 hectares on the small end.

These 'vineyards' are really just backyard plantings that families have been farming for generations and vinifying for their own personal consumption. So these partnerships are not only a challenge of research and good taste, but also of social bonding - the exchange is born out of friendship more than big money.

And the wines of Myrsini were unlike anything else I tasted on Paros. Nicolas makes non-intervention wines that manage to be both clean and complex. He bottles with a touch of SO2 just to allow them to travel, but other than that there are no additions and the wines are unfined and unfiltered.

His still Monemvasia was utterly delicious - reminiscent of Spanish Godello or South African Chenin Blanc. It tasted like Meyer lemon, sea salt and white peach with a zingy, mineral texture that left your mouth smacking for more. His pet-nat of the same grape, fascinatingly, had a totally different flavor profile: Asian pear, wisteria, white pepper and a refreshingly unusual note of cucumber.

He also makes a still and pet-nat version of the red grape Mandilaria which, based on other renditions I tried on my trip, I found to be very rustic, inky and tannic. To avoid this, Nicolas only macerates his Mandilaria for a week, resulting in a bright, refreshing, glou-glou style red that smacks of wild strawberries, sage and iron.

I could write a whole blog just on this visit, but I know I need to wrap it up. I'm hoping to somehow get these wines into Portland so I'll let you know when you can come taste them yourself!

Goodbye Greece, for now...

I hope you've enjoyed my musings on this storied land for the last few weeks. And I hope it inspires you to take a trip there yourself!

As I said before, I'm excited to taste wines from Greece and other Mediterranean regions with those of you in the wine club in a few short weeks.

July's club theme is Rosé Colored Glasses: what exactly pink and orange wines are how they got so pretty. We'll talk about how skin contact works and what it adds to a wine, then taste some delicious renditions of each to inspire all your summer pool party dreams. Sign up to taste with me on July 21st!

Cheers and see you next week,

Kelsey