Agiorgitiko is a red grape and wine from Greece. I’m excited to learn about it. Thank you to Red Wine: The Comprehensive Guide to the 50 Essential Varieties & Styles and Wine Folly for their help with this article.
Where Is This Grape Grown?
This grape grows throughout Greece but since ancient times has been planted in the Nemea region of the Peoponnese peninsula, which is located at the southern tip of the mainland. Red Wine: The Comprehensive Guide to the 50 Essential Varieties & Styles tells us that “The wine made from it there is called the Blood of Hercules. According to legend, Hercules (Herakles in Greece) drank the local wine either before or after slaying the Nemean Lion. Perhaps it was both. The wine gave him the courage to face the task, and he had a celebratory drink afterward.”
More About Agiorgitiko
Agiorkitiko means Saint George’s grape.
The grape is one of the most important indigenous Greek varieties and is the most widely planted red grape of Greece. It offers a wide range of styles, from rosé to red. The most exceptional Agiorgitiko wines are the full-bodied reds from Nemea.
According to wine expert Karen MacNeil, some examples of Agiorgitiko can be lush and “almost Port-like” with spicy, peppery flavors.
If the vines produce a lot of grapes, the wine tends to have more fruit flavors and softer tannins. If the vineyard manager removes whole grape bunches or does a lot of pruning, you get higher tannins and spicier wine. According to my red wine book, “Vines planted at higher altitudes, which allow for nighttime cooling, tend to produce the most interesting wines, which have moderate acidity, good color, and a fruit-filled bouquet, while grapes grown at lower altitudes and on valley floors impart cooked or jammy fruit flavors.”
Agiorgitiko often is made as a single-variety wine, but it can be blended and often is with Cabernet Sauvignon.
