Nov 06: There was a lot of excitement at the Kofuku Restaurant on last Sunday as 5 Greek labels from Vaeni, a Greek producer from the Naoussa region in North Greece, were launched by Malay Kumar, their brand ambassador in India and if the initial excitement amongst those present is any indication, these wines could find a good market, writes Subhash Arora who feels a lot of work needs to be done to convince wine lovers that Greece makes good quality value-for-money wines with their own identity
To a wine drinker with a casual interest in Greek wines, the national Greek wine is Retsina made in different parts of Greece, including North, South Greece and southern regions of Cyprus. The alcoholic fermentation takes place after adding pine resin to the local grapes like Assyrtiko, Roditis or Savatiano, giving out a particular characteristic aroma and a rich full flavour. The full-bodied wine is served at cold temperature of 8-10° C. It has been the traditional drink for at least 2000 years. In today’s world, you would love the drink or hate the wine which has earned PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) appellation and now can be made only in the designated areas only.
Retsina Chrisanthi is one of the five wine labels being imported from Vaeni Naoussa, a winery in Naoussa region of Greece, about 90 kms from Thessaloniki by Pashupati Alcobev, a UP based wholesale distributor for many importers. It is facilitated by Malay Kumar, the brand ambassador for India of the winery- a co-operative with 200 members, which has been producing wines since 1983. It was also one of the 5 wines served at the monthly wine social at Kofuku a week ago where they were launched in the presence of around 40 guests. As expected, the opinions were divided on the choice of this wine. This table wine is retailed at Rs. 1600 but would be difficult to sell in big numbers despite its Greek history and heritage and a generous taste of ripe apples and peaches because of the resident taste of resins that is not natural for Indian palates.
Makedonikos White 2017 (Retail Price in Delhi Rs. 2800) is a wine from Macedonia where Alexander the great came from. It is made from the Xinomavro red grapes, so popular in this region. It is a semi dry white wine with typical aromas and low alcohol at 11.5%. The pleasant fruity flavours made it very compatible with the sushi platter and dim sums with the touch of spices countering the slight sweetness in the wine. At cold temperature of 8-10 deg C it was fresh and crisp. It’s a PGI Macedonia (protected geographical indication-equivalent of IGT wines in Italy).
Makedonikos Red was a delicious wine made from the same, locally popular Xinomavro grape aged for about a year including wood and bottle. Nicely drinkable wine with a long end! The price is same at Rs. 2800 though it is a better value than the white.
Vaeni Naoussa 2016 is a fruity wine with a nice and long after-taste and at Rs. 2500 is a good value for a Greek Red wine, But the pièce de résistance for the evening was the last wine in the pack- Grande Reserve 2013 that has matured very well in the bottle and had good structure and balance too with flavours that would be compatible with an Indian palate.
It was full on the mid palate and left a deep impression after it had gone down the gullet. Fuller bodied with still dark colour intact, it will probably last for a few more years. Four years of aging- 2 years in a barrel and 2 years in the bottle, has made the wine mellow on tannins which are quite velvety. A bit expensive at Rs. 3500 but think Barolo in terms of aging and you realise there is an excellent wine in your hands- just grapes are different-Xinomavro in place of Nebbiolo. (of course terroir is different too).
Since it was launched at the Kofuku Social, the guests enjoyed the wines with Japanese food and pairing was not high on the list. In general, Grand Reserve was the wine of the evening and has a very good scope for sale to wine connoisseurs. Currently available in Delhi and Utter Pradesh (the Distributor Pashupati is based in Ghaziabad) but Malay Kumar hopes to sell them in Mumbai, Assam and Karnataka too in 2019. A successful introduction of these wines ought to be a feather in his cap.
Although it was the first Greek winery to be introduced in Delhi (Mumbai already has two labels from Cavino in another wine region Némea) it gives an excellent opportunity to taste five wines from Vaeni Naoussa in Northern Greece and hopefully one would find these labels easily in the market.
For more details, visit https://www.vaeni-naoussa.com
Subhash Arora
3 November, 2018
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