Happy Holidays Corfu Magazine
Articles and Features (published quarterly) about Corfu and its many attractions
Vol. 1, No. 4; June 15, 2006
Greek Wine - Then and Now by 'Lucullus'
The vitis vinifera vines (‘wine’ vines) are said to have been introduced, in ancient times, to Greece via Crete and certain of the Aegean islands. Greece became known for its quality wine but this began to change towards the end of the Middle Ages. It is believed that the main cause for this was that feudalism had spread on the Greek mainland and that the local peasantry were often forced to work for their landlords. However, one of the few privileges that the peasantry enjoyed was that they were allowed to pursue viticulture, largely for their own benefit, although they had to pay a tax for this privilege. As a result of economic hardship, along with little time to spend tending their vineyards, the peasantry were seldom in a position to produce quality wine. In order to find quality wine, one needed to look to the Church, who, through the monastic communities, had been able to continue with good wine-making techniques and, along with their financial resources, were often able to purchase potentially good vineyards from the peasantry when their financial situation freed them to dispose of them.
During the Ottoman occupation, the monasteries lost certain of their financial resources but were able to retain their tax-exempt status. The Ottomans were keen to promote wine-growing as they believed it could be a good source of revenue and many of their office-bearers were allocated vineyards. It must be borne in mind that not all Moslems, by any means, followed the religious ban on alcohol! Unfortunately, as the Ottoman rule came to a close, they were increasingly raising taxes on the peasantry’s wine production, bearing in mind that the monasteries were still tax-exempt. As the Ottomans began their slow withdrawal from Greece, they destroyed many vineyards, principally in the southern part of the mainland to begin with. The wine industry has taken a long time to recover from the Ottoman occupation.
The first half of the twentieth century was, perhaps, the most difficult period of all for the industry. It had to contend with the Balkan Wars, World War II, and then the Greek Civil War of 1947-1949. To add to the problems of hostilities, phylloxera finally took hold in Greece in the 1920’s, but this vine pest was slow to progress through the country with the result that major outbreaks continued up until the early 1970’s. However, to this day, most of Crete and the entire western side of Greece remain unscathed by the pest. To further compound the problems of the wine industry, that period in time saw mass emigration, which had a serious affect on many local wine-growing areas which were abandoned as a result.
Most of Greece’s wine production in the twentieth century was destined for bulk sales to be used as blending wine abroad. Unfortunately, as a consequence, quantity was more
often than not preferred to quality. Things started looking up in the late 60’s when Greece introduced a basic “appellation control” system ahead of joining the EEC and being obliged to conform with its regulations. At the same time, the late John Carras was busy planting some 4,000 acres with both a large variety of indigenous wines along with French varietals such as Sauvignon Blanc. Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. He took the then unusual step of retaining a foreign consulting oenologest – the legendary Monsieur Emile Peynaud. This could be seen as a turning point for the industry as locals began to go abroad to study oenology at such universities as Bordeaux and Dijon and to gain practical experience in foreign vineyards not just in Europe but as far afield as Australia and South Africa. These young people brought back their recently acquired knowledge and applied it to local conditions and indigenous vine varieties (of which there are over 300). Consequently, the past 30 years has seen a quantum leap in quality along with a slow shift from bulk and ‘loose’ wine to ever-increasing bottled production. It must be borne in mind that even now, only 8% of production is considered as quality.
There are still a number of pressing
problems to be addressed by the industry
if Greece is to be considered a player int
the world wine industry. A major cause for
concern is that of pricing the product.
Although wineries are becoming more
modern, generally Greek vine cultivation
is done by hand and this often results in in a country wine (Vins de Pays), costing what one might expect a quality wine to be priced at, and likewise a Greek quality wine being priced at an unrealistic price for the export market. The result is that Greece has a very small export market and that its wines are not really known outside of the country. Another problem is that quality wines are often hard to obtain, on a regular basis, outside of Athens. Also, storage facilities in outlets often leave a lot to be desired and do not do the product justice. It is still very difficult to obtain a wine in a retail outlet or in a restaurant that has been “cellared” for the correct length of time in order for it to provide optimum drinking pleasure.
Whilst it is clear that Greek wine has progressed enormously over the past thirty or so years, it still has a long road ahead with many issues needing to be satisfactorily resolved if it is to gain worldwide recognition.
© 2005-2006 Happy Holidays Corfu
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