Introduction

By Paul Caputo

Nemea is arguably Greece’s most famous red wine. It’s a rustic, tannic wine produced from the Agiorgitiko grape, but a wine that has tremendous potential to improve with age and develop exciting characters worthy of keeping it.

Situated in the north of the Peloponnese region, it’s a hot and dry environment. In these rugged mountains though the high altitudes offer plenty of opportunity for Agiorgitiko to ripen evenly but then cool in the nighttime temperatures.

In recent years producers have learned from the development of other key red wine making areas around Europe and have started to explain the intricacies of terroir. Certain areas at high altitudes such as Koutsi and the Asprokambos plateau are now talked about within the context of ‘cru status’.