{"id":12028,"date":"2022-05-20T15:19:12","date_gmt":"2022-05-20T12:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.omilo.com\/2017\/07\/31\/greek-wines-try-amazing-varieties\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T14:24:41","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T11:24:41","slug":"drinking-greek-wine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/omilo.com\/nl\/drinking-greek-wine\/","title":{"rendered":"Greek Wine & verb “to drink” | Omilo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ordering Greek wine in Greece is easy, since there are 300 varieties of grape cultivated by more than 150,000 farmers in Greece.\u00a0 Greece produces some outstanding wines, thanks to its climate.\u00a0 Below a small introduction to Greek Wine Varieties, as well as some useful Greek vocabulary!<\/p>\n

Greek wine today<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Today Greece produces high quality wines with modern techniques. Of course the Greek wine industry faces strong competition from wines from South-America,\u00a0South America and Australia. Additionally, local grapes have no name recognition and many wine producers are small, family-run businesses.<\/p>\n

Greece has about 130,000 hectares of vines and produces around 400 million liters a year,\u00a0about 2,5 percent of production in the European Union. This places the country among\u00a0the top 15 global producers, fifth in Europe in terms of area and sixth for wine production\u00a0and makes the wine sector one of the most profitable drink industries for the Greek economy.<\/p>\n

Over the past twenty years, the number of Greek wine producers has increased a lot.\u00a0 In most Greek restaurants, especially in the bigger cities, we now get a Greek wine-list with many excellent choices.<\/p>\n

Producers also look towards further development of organic wines, improvement of marketing and promoting the Greek wines in the local and international markets.<\/p>\n

Some of the known wine varieties in Greece : <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Red Wine <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Agiorgitiko<\/strong>: The notable and mostly sought after, grape of Nemea.(Peloponesse) It gives wines with beautiful dark red colour and rich velvety taste.<\/p>\n

Kotsifali<\/strong>: Cretan red grape. It gives wines with high alcohol content, soft and spicy.<\/p>\n

Mandelaria<\/strong>: \u00a0rich in color, and also known as Amorgiano. It is mainly cultivated on the islands of Rhodes and Crete.<\/p>\n

Mavrodapni<\/strong> : grown mainly in the Peloponnese and Ionian islands, it is often blended with the Corinthian grape variety to produce sweet dessert wines. Most Mavrodafni grapes are used for the production of the highly graded, aged, red sweet wine carrying the same name. (comparable to the Portuguese \u201cPorto wine\u201d)<\/p>\n

Xinomavro<\/strong>: the predominant grape variety in the Macedonian region. It has strong ageing potential and can provide rich, full red wines.<\/p>\n

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White Wine <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Athiri<\/strong>: Athiri is one of the most ancient of Greek grape varieties,cultivated mainly in the Cyclades, the Dodecanese and also in Attica. Athiri grapes have a thin skin and give sweet and fruity juice.<\/p>\n

Assyrtiko<\/strong>: This white grape variety was first cultivated on the island of Santorini. It has citrus aromas mixed with an earthy, mineral aftertaste due to the volcanic soil of Santorini. Since about 20 years Assyrtiko has been planted throughout Greece including Macedonia and Attica where it expresses a milder and more fruity character.<\/p>\n

Moschofilero<\/strong> : cultivated in the Peloponnese, it derives from an old, local variety and is mainly used for dry white wines. Moschofilero grapes have a gray colored skin and therefore produce a wine that is a blanc de gris<\/p>\n

Roditis<\/strong> : As the name implies, Roditis is a ros\u00e9 colored grape that is very popular in Attica, Macedonia, Thessaly and Peloponnese. It produces the best results when cultivated on mountainous slopes.<\/p>\n

Savatiano<\/strong>: The most widely distributed grape in the Greek vineyard. It is cultivated mainly in Attica and the rest of Central Greece. it displays excellent heat resistance and has a fruity aroma Together with Roditis, it is one of the main grapes for the production of retsina.<\/p>\n

We hope you will get the opportunity to taste\u00a0one of those fine Greek wines in Greece or in your country! \u201cYia-mas!\u201d<\/p>\n

Note: Wine goes well with cheese, so do not hesitate to also try one of the excellent Greek cheeses. Click here to read more about Greek cheese .<\/a><\/p>\n

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Learn the\u00a0 Greek Verb for “I drink”<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Since we are not a bar, neither a tavern, but a language school, this is an opportunity to also learn some Greek \ud83d\ude42<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is useful to know the verb “to drink” – \u03c0\u03af\u03bd\u03c9, as well as the word wine –\u00a0 “\u03ba\u03c1\u03b1\u03c3\u03af”
\n\u03a0\u03af\u03bd\u03c9 \u03ba\u03c1\u03b1\u03c3\u03af – I drink wine
\n\u03a0\u03af\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2 \u03ba\u03c1\u03b1\u03c3\u03af; Do you drink wine?
\n\u0394\u03b5\u03bd \u03c0\u03af\u03bd\u03c9 \u03ba\u03c1\u03b1\u03c3\u03af – I do not drink wine<\/p>\n

Watch the video below, or click here and learn to conjugate and pronounce the verb “to drink”<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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\"Greek<\/a><\/p>\n

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How to order your glass of wine…<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u0398\u03b1 \u03ae\u03b8\u03b5\u03bb\u03b1 \u03ad\u03bd\u03b1 \u03c0\u03bf\u03c4\u03af\u03c1\u03b9 \u03bb\u03b5\u03c5\u03ba\u03cc \u03ba\u03c1\u03b1\u03c3\u03af –\u00a0 I would like a glass of white wine
\n\u0398\u03b1 \u03ae\u03b8\u03b5\u03bb\u03b1 \u03ad\u03bd\u03b1 \u03c0\u03bf\u03c4\u03af\u03c1\u03b9 \u03ba\u03cc\u03ba\u03ba\u03b9\u03bd\u03bf \u03ba\u03c1\u03b1\u03c3\u03af – I would like a glass of red wine<\/p>\n

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cheers…\u03b3\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1 \u03bc\u03b1\u03c2!<\/strong><\/p>\n