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Agiorgitiko, seen by many as the Greek version of Sangiovese, is an elegant red variety with intense aromas, medium acidity and soft tannins which comes from the area of Nemea, the largest red wine production region in Greece known for its quality and thousands of years of history going back to ancient Greece.
Together with Xinomavro they are the 2 great oak aging red Greek grape varieties that have the ability to produce great wines and offer some of the top exported wines of Greece. Agiorgitiko holds its name from the village of Ais Georgis in Nemea, the heart of the PDO Nemea District today where it is cultivated by almost every single winery in the area. However, Agiorgitiko is also cultivated in other parts of Peloponnesse, Cavala and Central Greece.
According to the ancient myth Agiorgitiko is believed to be the royal wine that Agamemnon drunk at the palace of Myceneae just before the war of Troia and also the blood of Hercules during his first labor, the killing of the lion of Nemea. Agiorgitiko has many different expressions, all excellent depending on the food pairing and occasion. Young Agiorgitiko has a deep purple red colour while the aged one is deep red, much more concentrated and with sophisticated rich aromas of red fruits.
This gentle super flexible variety also produces delightful rose wines and amazing dessert ones from sun dried grapes appealing to all tastes. Look closer in its pool of amazing aromas and you will discover small red fruit such as strawberry, raspberry and cherry. In classic Nemea wines you will discover red fruit jam, chocolate and toffee at the unoaked red or rosé wines. Finally dessert wines offer an interesting palette of aromas ranging from mocha, to raisins and chocolate. Agiorgitiko is really an outstanding grape variety both due to the quality it offers and the amount of the different winemaking options available to local producers for fresh or oaked, dry or sweet wines.The name Xinomavro comes from the word xino which means sour and mavro which means black.