Wines of Greece Tasting, Rococo Gardens. Painswick. Friday 21st August. 6pm – 8pm. The Stroud Wine Company
We’ve always had a passion for Greek wine, so when we were asked by Rococo Gardens if we would like to hold another wine tasting evening, we jumped at the chance! Perhaps inspired by all this amazing weather, we have decided to go exclusively Greek, writes Laura Holloway.
I joined a wine trade trip to Greece last October for a whole week exploring the best regions and tasting the very finest wines, so this is a chance for us to show you everything this amazing country has to offer, and all in the most spectacular setting.
We started our trip flying out to Thessaloniki in Northern Macedonia. An area I hadn’t been to before but we have sold wines from Ktima Gerovassiliou and Alpha Estate for years. These are big hitters in Greece; Evangelos Gerovassiliou and Alpha Estate helped to revitalise the Greek wine industry in the early 90’s. The wines made here on the slopes around Epanomi are regarded as some of the best in Greece and have won a string of awards.
Ktima Gerovassiliou was very impressive. We arrived and had a tour of the vineyards and winery. They incorporate local sculptors art amongst the vineyards which were incredibly striking. They also boast one of the largest corkscrew collections in the world with 2600 of them stored. We were lucky enough to taste with Vangelis Gerovassiliou, who is famed for bringing back the Malagousia grape variety from extinction. Their single varietal example has just won 97 points at the Decanter world wine awards and will be open at Rococo for you to try.
We were blown away by the Alpha Estate winery in Amyndeon. They are world famous and are credited with putting Greek winemaking on the map. They make wines from native varieties such as Assyrtiko and Xinomavro, but they also grow international varieties such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. It was clear that they had big projects planned for expanding their already impressive winery. We will be tasting their Xinomavro red and rose.
Papagiannakos winery, just east of Athens specialise in the Savatiano variety. Savatiano is the most widely planted grape variety in Greece and has been used in Retsina since the Roman times. It also produces some of the countries most distinctive wines, with flavours of citrus and herbs and deep minerality. This is from a single, 60 year old vineyard of unirrigated vines and something totally unique. This will also be open for you to taste!
From Crete we are showing a whole selection of wines from Lyrarakis, south of Heraklion. Here their focus is on native varieties to Crete including the very rare Dafni and Liatiko, an amazing winery and also open for you to taste.
We also visited Samos, just off the Turkish coast. The sweet wines made here on the home of Pythagorus are amongst the best in the world.
This tasting really will encompass everything we love about the wines of Greece, with around 30 different wines to taste at different locations around the gardens. In addition to the above we will have wines from The Peloponnese, Santorini, Naoussa and Amyndeo.
Not only that but the very best thing to pair with Greek wine is Greek food, so the team at Rococo will be serving delicious take-away boxes from the café, or bring along your own picnic to enjoy on the lawns.
You will be given a map and tasting booklet, highlighting where each wine is made and we will also be on hand to guide you through. This tasting is not to be missed so come and discover something new.
We really hope to see you there. For tickets, click HERE
(In the event of rain, storms, snow, we will hold the tasting at our shop in Thrupp, at a reduced rate of £15)
Click HERE to find out more about The Stroud Wine Company
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5 Witheys Yard,
55 High Street,
Stroud,
Gloucestershire
GL5 1AS
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Unit 4,
Griffin Mill,
London Rd.
Stroud,
GL5 2AZ
