Wine Wednesday: Discover the New Greece
Four Native Grapes, Four Distinctive Regions with DNS Wines
Wednesday, September 9 | 5:00–7:00 PM
This week, Wine Wednesday heads to Greece, one of the world’s oldest wine cultures and, today, one of its most exciting places for discovery. Rather than focusing on familiar international varieties, our tasting explores four distinctly Greek grapes and terroirs, traveling from Thessaly and the high plateau of Mantinia to mountainous Epirus and Naoussa in northern Greece.
Our guide to this journey is the portfolio of DNS Wines, a U.S. importer specializing in French and Greek estates with an emphasis on growers practicing organic, biodynamic, sustainable, and low-intervention viticulture. Their Greek portfolio is particularly exciting for its commitment to indigenous varieties and small producers whose wines offer an authentic sense of place.
This is a terrific tasting for anyone who thinks they know Greek wine. Assyrtiko, Moschofilero, Vlahiko, and Xinomavro give us four completely different personalities in four glasses.
2025 Domaine Zafeirakis Assyrtiko
Tyrnavos, Thessaly
Domaine Zafeirakis is one of the leading estates of modern Thessaly. Christos Zafeirakis represents the fifth generation of his family in Tyrnavos, but brought a decidedly modern perspective home after studying oenology in Milan and working in Tuscany, Piedmont, and Alto Adige. In 2005, he established the area's first organic vineyard, and today the estate is certified organic, relies on spontaneous fermentations, and has become particularly important for its work preserving indigenous Greek varieties.
Tyrnavos sits in Thessaly near the foothills of Mount Olympus. This is an important distinction for Assyrtiko. We usually associate the grape with the volcanic soils and windswept landscape of Santorini, but mainland Assyrtiko offers another interpretation entirely. Zafeirakis works primarily with clay-rich soils, including sites with sand, flint, and calcium deposits.
Expect lemon, grapefruit, green apple, white flowers, and fresh herbs, with Assyrtiko's naturally vibrant acidity and mineral backbone. Compared with many Santorini examples, the personality here is less overtly volcanic and saline, allowing citrus fruit and freshness to come forward.
Why We're Pouring It: Assyrtiko has become Greece's great international white grape. Tasting it from the mainland rather than Santorini is a wonderful way to discover that the variety has much more to say.
2023 Troupis “Holy Mania” Mantinia
Mantinia, Peloponnese
Troupis Winery is a small family estate located near Fteri in the heart of Mantinia, where the family's background in agronomy and vine cultivation stretches back to the 1970s. Their estate vineyards sit around 640 to 700 meters above sea level on the high Mantinia plateau.
This is the kingdom of Moschofilero, one of Greece's most distinctive native grapes. Its pinkish skins and intensely aromatic personality can produce wines filled with flowers, citrus, spice, and refreshing acidity. Mantinia's altitude and continental influence help preserve that remarkable perfume and freshness.
“Holy Mania” is 100% Moschofilero, sourced from low-yielding estate vineyards around Fteri. Fermentation occurs spontaneously, and the winery emphasizes minimal intervention. Look for white peach, citron and grapefruit peel, jasmine, rose, herbs, and spice, with a broad texture balanced by vibrant acidity.
A quick clarification: Although sometimes grouped with skin-contact or “orange” wines by retailers, Troupis itself classifies the 2023 Holy Mania as a dry white PDO Mantinia, rather than an orange wine.
Why We're Pouring It: This is Moschofilero with the volume turned up. Wild fermentation and minimal intervention reveal a more textured and complex side of a grape often known primarily for its delicate floral aromatics.
2020 Domaine Glinavos Vlahiko
Zitsa, Epirus
Our third wine takes us somewhere completely different: Epirus, in mountainous northwestern Greece.
Domaine Glinavos was founded in 1978 by Lefteris Glinavos after he returned to his native Epirus following winemaking studies in Bordeaux. He was part of the generation that helped transform Greek wine during the 1970s by shifting the focus from bulk production toward smaller estates and quality-minded, regionally distinctive wines. Today his son Thomas oversees the domaine and its approximately 20 hectares of vineyards around Zitsa.
Forget the image of hot, sun-baked Mediterranean Greece. Zitsa is semi-mountainous, cool, and green, and DNS compares its landscape more closely to Austria or Switzerland. Limestone-rich soils, cold winters, and relatively cool summers produce wines with bright acidity, modest alcohol, and a distinctly mineral personality.
Vlahiko is a rare indigenous red grape of Epirus and one of the varieties Domaine Glinavos has championed. Expect black cherry, wild berries, dried herbs, pepper, earth, and subtle floral notes, with refreshing acidity and savory structure rather than excessive weight.
Why We're Pouring It: This may be the evening's true discovery wine. Vlahiko is rarely encountered outside Greece, and Glinavos provides a chance to taste an indigenous grape intimately connected to the cool mountain terroir of Epirus.
2023 Oenos Mittas Naoussa
Naoussa, Macedonia
We finish with one of Greece's greatest red grapes: Xinomavro.
Naoussa, on the eastern foothills of Mount Vermion in northern Greece, is the historic heartland of Xinomavro. Mountain air, elevation, varied slopes, and limestone-influenced soils create an environment where the late-ripening grape can retain remarkable acidity while developing extraordinary aromatic and savory complexity.
Oenos Mittas represents a younger generation in this historic appellation. Yiannis Mittas comes from one of Naoussa's longstanding families and works organically with Xinomavro, producing a traditional expression that emphasizes the variety's red fruit, earthiness, acidity, and tannic structure.
Expect sour cherry, red plum, dried rose, tomato leaf, olive, leather, earth, and spice, supported by bright acidity and firm, finely textured tannins.
For Burgundy and Piedmont lovers, this is where Greece becomes particularly interesting. Xinomavro is often compared with Nebbiolo because of its relatively pale color, high acidity, assertive tannin, haunting aromatics, and remarkable ability to develop savory complexity with age.
Why We're Pouring It: If Assyrtiko is Greece's great ambassador for white wine, Xinomavro makes an equally convincing argument for its reds. Naoussa is its spiritual home, and this is a beautiful introduction to the appellation.
Four Grapes. Four Regions. A Different Side of Greece.
This week's lineup captures what makes contemporary Greek wine so compelling. Instead of trying to imitate established international styles, these producers are looking inward, toward native grapes, historic vineyards, altitude, regional traditions, and distinctive terroirs.
We'll move from the mineral intensity of Assyrtiko to the exotic perfume of Moschofilero, discover the rare mountain-grown Vlahiko, and finish with the structure and age-worthy complexity of Xinomavro from Naoussa.
Wine Wednesday
Wednesday, September 9 | 5:00–7:00 PM