We spent the early afternoon at one of Greece’s most famous wineries, Boutari. There are many wineries in Greece, but many produce too little to export or even sell outside of their local market… When traveling, go with an open palate – much of what you sample may not be available anyplace else on earth
Future Travel Note: When ordering red wines, remember that Greek’s like them “mild sweet.” As a dry red wine lover (Cab, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Malbec), these wines more resemble desert wines similiar to Port. It was difficult to find a dry red during our travels.

Here are some notes we learned from the tour:

• Greece has 4,600 different wine varietals (way more than the US), but thats not necessarily good since few are mass produced and fewer make it to the world market through exports
• White wine less than one year old will typically have a green tint when viewed over a white background (from the grapes). After one year, it disappears
• White wine is aged for 6 months (typically in oak barrels)
• Reserve white wine must be aged for 7 months
• Grand Reserve white wine is aged for 3 years
• Red wine is typically aged for 1 year
• Reserve red wine is aged for 3 years
• Grand Reserve red wine is aged for 4 years

Here’s a dated, but interesting piece on the Greek wine industry.

Below you’ll see a few videos explaining wine tasting/evaluations from our host, Stavros.