What I didn't see at VorOina (ΒορΟινά)

We have company! My first guest-blogger, Maria Dalabira, attended a wine event at Thessaloniki, where the wine producers of Northern Greece showed their wines.

 

Every wine is a journey

Maria Dalabira enjoying wine

Maria is a great wine aficionado. She enjoys drinking wine with friends and is always happy to discover new varieties or blends. This is her blog about Thessaloniki, you should definitely check it out and see how beautiful this city is. I reckon that the voice of the consumers and the attributes which attract them the most, are those that the wine experts should focus more on. At the end of the day, we are all working on wine because it's fun and it's honest. Let's keep our ears and eyes open to understand the wine consumers and not vice versa.

 This is how Maria experienced a wine event in Thessaloniki:

Yesterday, on the 22^nd of September, me and my girlfriends, were so excited about our Saturday’s night out event. It was wine tasting day! Since 2010 we have been attending «Τα ΒορΟινά», a unique wine journey. This is an event that takes place in Thessaloniki, twice a year and it consists of wine tasting competition, wine tasting of the wines of the 36 winemakers and members of the “Wines of Northern Greece”. The event was held at the Port of Thessaloniki, Dock 1 in particular, which is a recently innovated space with an amazing view and beautiful history.

The day was special, Effi asked me if I could take some pictures and memorise special wine labels that tickled my palate, so me and the girls had a mission going on: Taste as many wines as possible and make our top three!

The organisers held a wine tasting competition for all visitors, a "looking for the lost treasure" game, a moustalevria tasting (special sweet made with grape must) and a children’s wine workshop in which children over 5 years of age would “learn the different varieties of grapes and make their own delicious grape bites”, as the event’s flier stated.

We had a rendezvous at 8:30 pm in the entrance and as I was the first one to get there I stood in line alone to enter the special dock. This year I waited for the first time for 10-15 minutes in line because of the resonance ‘’ΒορΟινα” had. The crowd was BIG and the ages varied from 6 months old to really old wine lovers!

I paid my 5 Euros fee, got my glass and got in to lots of white tents, lights, people, laughter and swirling glasses full of wine. 

VorOina: Tasting of wines & spirits

In the entrance there was a desk with six black bottles and in front of each and every one of them there was a big number from 1 to 6. This table was the  wine tasting’s competition table. They gave each person a paper with all the possible wine varieties and every one should check the box he/she thought represented the wine he/she was tasting at the moment! Every person wrote his personal info, such as phone number, name, surname etc so the winner would be found and rewarded! (The reward is a case of 6 bottles of wine).

So, as I read from the informational paper “Boutari” wines gave me, the main Greek white wine varieties are:

Assyrtiko, Vilana, Moschofilero, Savvatiano, Malagousia and

the main Greek red wine varieties are:

Agiorgitiko, Kotsifali, Negoska, Xinomavro.

And so the journey began.

And what a journey! We had so much fun! Seriously we tasted wines from all 36 winemakers and they were all great! I began the tasting by myself, as I was waiting for my friends and I started from the end towards the beginning and the first white wine was a winner.

The first wine I liked comes from Vourvoukelis estate; a family of winemakers that planted 2 hectares on the fertile hills of the area Avdira at Xanthi with indigenous and foreign wine grape varieties, with a view to realizing their vision of reviving the famous Avdira vineyard. The wine’s name is Lagara, Ktima Vourvoukeli 2009. Lagara, which means clear, pure liquid, is a blend of Sauvignon blanc and Assyrtiko. As my friends arrived at the place we united and continued the wine tasting with so much excitement! There were laughs, cheesy jokes, happy faces and glasses full of wine everywhere!

Certainly, the ladies had great fun!

Another great wine was a white one from Ktima Ligas (wines of Pella).  The PELLA white wine was so velvety, lively and light! Estate Ligas had many fans among our company and we also liked another of their white wines: Roditis

As we went on, glass after glass, we stopped at the Ktima Chatzivarytis wines which surprised us so pleasantly with the lightness of its lively, white whine, the full-bodied red wine and the fashion icon Mister Chatzivarytis; a charmer, so kind and full of smiles! The white wine was: OROSIMO, which consists of 60% Roditis and 40% Xinomavro and the red wine was GOUMENISSA which consisted of Xinomavro 70% and Negoska 30%.

Mr. Chatzivarytis

We enjoyed the Elinos wine: Orizontes, a white wine of 2011.

From the Oenogenesis winemakers we liked: Skylights white wine, a regional wine of Macedonia, cool, with Sauvignon blanc and Assyrtico.

We liked a white dry wine from Boutaris called: SIMEIO STIXIS whose varieties are Malagouzia, Roditis, Assyrtiko, Sauvignon blanc.

People kept coming again and again and not only Greeks but foreigners too. I am guessing Erasmus students in Thessaloniki, whose picture I took but forgot to ask how they landed there. The night was wonderful, warm, the sky was clear and the winemakers were happy!

ERASMUS students enjoying every minute of VorOina

In the end of the kiosks there were three kiosks with local traditional products such as peppers from Florina, moustalevria sweets and meat products such as pork, calf and others!

Delicious meat products by http://www.toxasapaki.gr

We found some wines that came to add to our favorites list!

I loved a rose demi sec from EAS Amyntaion , called AMYNTAION and so did my friend Sissy! We are definitely going to buy this one!

This is the only rose wine with ‘Appellation of Origin of Superior Quality’ in Greece

There were also two of Kir Yianni wines, the first one a white wine, SAMAROPETRA and the second one, a rose sparkling called AKAKIES, 2010.

Samaropetra

For us, the surprise of the evening wasn’t a wine but a tsipouro, the best one I have ever tasted. Strong and bold, it burned your mouth and leaved your lips numb, a Zoenos winery tsipouro called: IPEIROTIKO, aged Tsipouro was a winner!

There was also a buzz about a new rose from Boutari, called Pink Kong, which we didn’t have the chance to taste because it was finished by the time we reached the Boutari’ s kiosk.

Anyway our top three wines were (not only three)

White wine: KTIMA LIGAS -PELLA AND SIMEIO STIXIS-BOUTARI

Red wine:  Ecological Vineyards Chatzivarity-GOUMENISSA.

Rose wine: EAS - AMYNTAION

And guest star: ZOENOS WINERY- Tsipouro, Palaiomeno Ipeirotiko.

As the night came to its closure we were happy drank girls, with our wine glasses as a souvenir (they let you keep the glass as a remembering), with our cameras filled with photographs and our memories filled with wines we are definitely going to buy for a home wine tasting experience!

View of the kiosks

Thessaloniki during the after-hours

Great view from the tasting site