THE WINE-GROWING region of Nemea is steeped in ancient history. From Corinth to Ancient Nemea, archaeological grounds abound. It is therefore fitting that the name of one of the most prominent wineries in the area pays homage to Semeli, the mother of Dionysus, the god of wine. He was born from a love affair between Semeli and the leading Olympian god, Zeus. 

A visit to Semeli Winery offers the chance to meet a modern oenologist, or winemaker, with a distinctly ancient name, Sofoklis Petropoulos. Petropoulos (photo) is responsible for all the wines under the Semeli umbrella, including the Oreinos Helios and Mantinea Nassiakos labels. 

The Nemea Reserve and the Domaine Helios Grand Reserve are the flagship agiorgitiko wines piquing interest locally and internationally. The former is aged in oak for approximately three months and the latter is aged for up to two years. As the winemaker himself says, “there is no exact recipe for the wines we make. Every year and every vintage has its slight variations. The aim is to draw out the best qualities of the grapes.”

Thirty-two-year-old Petropoulos started his wine-making career in Athens followed by further studies at the University of Adelaide in South Australia, less than an hour away from the ‘big reds’ wine region of Barossa Valley. His international experience and extensive travels through wine regions of Australia, America and as diverse as Japan’s Mt Fuji region have helped shape a balanced view of the wine industry. Of his travels, Papadopoulos diplomatically says: “It’s up to each wine producer to achieve whatever quality of wine they want to make.” At Semeli, it’s his role to produce the highest-quality Nemea.

In Nemea, there are variations on the quality of the wine known locally as Hercules’ blood. The story of the red agiorgitiko grape variety begins with the myth of the twelve labours of Hercules, the first of which was to slay the Nemean lion. Legend says that the famous grape sprouted from the spilled blood of Hercules. 

The romance of the myth is unsurpassable, but folklore also tells us that the modern name agiorgitiko derives from the monastery of Agios Georgios in Feneos, another ancient town in the prefecture of Corinth. During the Ottoman Empire, wine was taxed, but the monasteries were exempt from paying. In a truly modern business scheme, the locals assigned their wine to the monastery to avoid taxation, giving the wine the moniker “agiorgitiko”.

The Semeli Winery, located at a 600-metre altitude just outside the village of Koutsi, overlooks the Nemea Valley. The company’s vineyard, 90 percent of which produces agiorgitiko grapes, is spread over 14 hectares but is separated into smaller lots, a common characteristic of vineyards in Greece. 

Petropoulos explains: “There are many issues in relation to the positioning and harvesting of the grapes here in Greece because of the steep slopes, small and awkwardly shaped vineyards - meaning that, unfortunately, all the harvesting is done by hand, not by the new-age machinery used in winemaking in places like Australia.” With an above-average production of 750,000 bottles of wine annually, Semeli exports between 15 and 20 percent of the wines to Europe and the United States.

The intrinsic difficulties in winemaking in Greece do not affect the advances being made by dedicated professionals such as Petropoulos. The international profile of Greek wines is determined by success of the main protected wine varieties of asyrtiko, moschofilero, xinomavro and agiorgitiko. Their appellation is protected, but there is a push by parties in the wine industry to create sub-appellations. 

According to the argument, sub-appellations would better reflect the variety of wines in the region. Detailing the diversity of the different regions within Nemea, Petropoulos adds that “the vineyards around the village of Koutsi are the most expensive in land value because they are considered to have the highest-quality grapes, with small yield though, but there is no ice or breeze to ruin the harvest”. The sub-region of Asprokampos, at a 1,000-metre altitude, produces grapes with higher acidity that are picked later than the usual harvest of September. Grapes there also run the risk of production damage due to the unpredictable September rains. The vineyards positioned in the valley of Nemea again face a different microclimate to the other vineyards on the slopes.

But the main argument against the creation of sub-appellations is that the markets, both local and international, are still learning about Greek wine varieties, and establishing appellations for smaller regions would only confuse consumers. Petropoulos chuckles at the dilemma: “Don’t forget that there are over 300 registered Greek wine varieties.” Therefore, the first lesson in Greek wine should be from history, a drop of Hercules’ blood, found only in Nemea.

 

•  To book a guest suite at the winery or to arrange a tailor-made tour with winemaker Sofoklis Petropoulos, contact the Nemea winery.