May 31, 2014
Across the Peloponnese
Day two saw us up around 8 am for a quick breakfast, and then to our second New Wines of Greece wine tasting, which was being held in a lower level banquet room at our hotel. The last two members of our group, Garrett Smith, Sommelier at Daniel in New York City and Mark Wilson, Corporate Chef at Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. joined in the morning tasting as they finally arrived in Athens after lengthy flight delays during their travel. We went round the room, table to table and tasted.
The wines this morning, like those of yesterday's tasting at Domaine Vassiliou winery, were all very agreeable. The white wines seemed to stand out over the reds, I think. After the tasting it was time to check out of the hotel and have our luggage ready to load into the limo van for our drive to the Nemea wine region. We wouldn't dare hit the road with out fueling up first, so lunch was being served in the Mesoghaia restaurant. We were joined by three of the producers who poured at the morning tasting. Sofia ordered fresh Greek Salad and two appetizers to share, then we all ordered our own entrees from the menu. I ordered the grilled salmon tournedo with creamy Fava of Santorini, fried carrot and celery root tempura style. The presentation was wonderful and the dish both filling and delicious. This was also the first opportunity to sit and talk with everyone in our group.
Our stomachs completely satisfied, we loaded up the limo van and hit the road for our next stop. We drove up and around the north eastern corner of Athens, then out and across the Straight of Corinth (Korinthos) making our way to the wine region of Nemea.
The drive across the Straight of Corinth was beautiful as it follows a path mostly alongside the edge of the Saronic Gulf of the Agean Sea. Once past the city of Korinthos, the hills rise higher about the highway and the valleys are filled with olive trees, which begin to turn into vineyards closer to Nemea.
Once off of the main east west highway, we only had few minutes left to go.
We reached our destination of Domaine Skouras in an hour and a half. We took a quick look around the grounds and inside the main building. We were met shortly after by George Skouras, owner / winemaker of Domaine Skouras. George gave us a brief introduction to the region and then a short tour of the winery. The winery sits at the north eastern part of a valley in the Nemea wine region. The valley extends beyond the back of the winery towards the south by south west then rises to a ridge of mountain peaks some reaching 2000' in elevation. Here is a link to the Domaine Skouras website - www.skouras
The tour ended in the underground cellar where our third New Wines of Greece wine tasting now began. There were nine tasting stations set up on wine barrels with close to 40 wines from nine producers in the Nemea region to taste.
After tasting our way through all of the wines, George Skouras gave us an opportunity to taste two very special wines, which he produces. They are wines which are Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) Peloponnese wine named Labyrinth.
In 2001, Labyrinth was begun in a 1000 liter fouder barrique . The Barrique was filled with the final blend of Megas Oenos 1999, a blend of Aghiorghitiko 80% and Cabernet Sauvignon 20%. Since then, every year, a specific amount of wine is taken out of the foudre barrique, and the final blend of the new Megas Oenos vintage gets added. The wine matures in the barrique until the next vintage of Megas Oenos comes out from the new French barriques that has matured for 18 months. George opened a bottle of the Labrynith '99 -'08, which contains some of each vintage from 1999 through 2008. He then had some wine taken directly from the foudre barrique, which holds the Labyrinth '99 - '10. What a treat! EfharistĂł (Thank you) George!
We loaded back into the limo van and headed south to the town of Nafplio were we spent the night. We passed by the town of Argos on our approach to Nafplio. The most notable landmark on the way is the Larisa fortress castle, also known as the castle of Argos, which sits a top a peak that shoots steeply up 950' from the town below. The castle was first created in the 6th century B.C. and fortified by the Byzantines in the 10th century.
We made it to Nafplio. Sofia had our driver make a quick stop in restaurant row section of town, so she drop off some wine at the restaurant where we would have dinner. The next stop was our hotel.
The driver went through the town and up a road seeing some increase in elevation. As we ascended, the surrounding became seemingly ancient as we were nearing old city walls and fortress like structures. The driver stopped at the end of the road which looked down on the city to the north. Just above us, and rising 700 feet above the town of Nafplio is the Palamidi fortress, which was built by the Venetians between 1711 and 1714 and looms very largely over the town. Our driver got out and opened the back of the limo van, so we could off load our luggage. We all wondered where in the world were we staying, as there wasn't anything in the vicinity resembling a hotel except an abandoned concrete hulk of a structure that looked like something out of a post apocalyptic movie. Just then a number of gentleman appeared from the end of the road from an ancient stone pathway. The were from our hotel which was down the pathway overlooking the city. They helped us with our luggage as show us the way. After walking through a fortress archway which was one way to enter the city, we made it to the Pension Marianna hotel. It is at one of the highest points above the city as any other hotel around. Our first views of the city and surrounding landscapes were stunning. After checking in, we presented with some fresh squeezed orange juice from a Greek variety of orange picked from the hotel's own orange tree. It might have been the most enjoyed glass of orange juice I've ever had. We freshened up and then had a few hours of free time to explore the area before dinner.
Here is a link to the Pension Marianna hotel website - www.hotelmarianna
Another very recognizable man made landmark could easily be seen from our hotel out in the Argolic Gulf is the small island fortress named Bourtzi. It was built by the Venetians in 1471. Bourtzi was originally part of the city's defenses. Thick chains ran from the castle to the mainland to prevent enemy ships from docking. Between 1865 and 1935 Bourtzi was the home of the local executioner, which worked out well because no one every really wanted to live next door to the executioner. It was a hotel and restaurant for a short while before finally becoming a tourist attraction.
After normalizing ourselves from being somewhat overwhelmed by the views, we made the walk down a series of stone steps into Nafplio. Once at the bottom of the steps and at the edge of the town, the resemblances to Venice were striking. Nafplio has been inhabited since ancient times, but was mostly influenced during the middle ages by the Byzantines, Franks, Venetians, and Turks. The Republic of Venice purchased Nafplio in 1388 and held it for 150 years. The feel of the town is much like Venice without the canals.
The shops and businesses are very diverse and interesting. There were, as one would expect, curio shops with typical and even cheesy souvenirs around. What was more prevalent were shops with beautiful hand made things, art, and a mix of very unique goods. Darrell took a look at a few shops before we made our way to the restaurant. The first to catch his eye was the Komboloi Museum. Komboloi are beads, typically wooden, resin, or coral. Minerals and metal are also used. They are known as "Worry beads", which are strung together a bit loosely so they can be manipulated with one or two hands. This is done to pass time in Greek and Cypriot culture. Although very similar to prayer beads used in many religious traditions, including the Greek Orthodox komboskini, they do not have any religious or ceremonial purpose. They had over a thousand strings of beads on display dating back to the year 1700.
Here is a link to the Komboloi Museum website - www.komboloi
Once at the restaurant, Darrell decided to hang out until dinner. I walked on to one of the city squares at the waters edge. It was now late afternoon and the sun was beginning to lower through bands of clouds rolling across the blue sky. After making it to the waters edge, I headed south along the walkway. There were a number of covered seating areas to my left with people enjoying drinks and snacks. I came across Sofia, Pano, Mark, and Zachary sitting and enjoying a beer. They wanted me to join them. I was very tempted, because a cold beer sounded so good, but I told them that the sunlight, clouds, mountains and water were all lit too incredibly well to ignore, so I walked on capturing pictures and video of the amazing views.
I have been a hobby photographer since I was 12 years old, and have had the very good fortune to visit many beautiful places around the world. I can't remember a place and time which had the intensity of light, shadow, diversity of mountain beauty, clouds, and coastal beauty as I experienced in the past 45 minutes here in Nafplio, Greece! Feeling like I was walking on the clouds, I made my way to Savouras Fish Tavern to meet our group for dinner. The row of restaurants all had tented tables across the frontage walkway. We were seated under the tent. Dinner was served family style with the restaurant's version of fresh Greek salad coming out first. It was followed by whole fried mullet, fried calamari, sautéed octopus, and sea greens. Next up were steamed mussels, prawns in tomato sauce, and local rock fish. We had a number of wines from the tasting at Domaine Skouras. I think the stand out was the Domaine Skouras 2013 Salto wild yeast Moschofilero with its lime, grapefruit, green apple, citrus and melon flavors combined with a hint of minerals and a touch of the salty sea. It paired so well with the seafood.
Savouras Fish Tavern's fresh catch of the day display included mullet, conch, squid, shrimp, prawns, lobster, grouper, and various rock fish. Here is a link to the Savouras Fish Tavern website - - SavourasFishTavern
We were serenaded by a few musicians during dinner. The first musician was solo and came by sporting a bouzouki, which is an ornate guitar like stringed instrument that originated in Asia Minor. He played the theme to Zorba the Greek. He was followed by a pair of accordion players who played a set of nondescript Greek melodies. They definitely added to the very festive mood in the tent.
Dinner was delicious and very filling. The octopus and the fried mullet were my favorites. It was close to 11 pm and nearing time to think about some sleep. We left Savouras Fish Tavern to make our way back to the hotel. I decided to walk off a little of the dinner, so I took the long way around. I headed back to the square by the waters edge to see what the streets of Nafplio looked like at night. There were a lot of people out and about. People walking, shopping, sipping drinks and eating at the street side cafes and restaurants, even a good number of children running around and playing. The shops and building were all very nicely lit. I came across a unique gourmet food, wine, and spirits shop, which featured local and regional specialties. I bought a few interesting regionally made vinegars and spirits for us to sample later.
After a good walk and the climb back up the stairs, I found myself at my hotel door. I just couldn't go inside until I took a very long look at the city by night from my balcony. It was nice to go to sleep with visions of Nafplio fresh in my mind.