Riedel Glasses in Athens

Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to a tasting by Georg Riedel.
I always knew that Riedel glasses were the absolute "Rolls Royce" of glasses for wine tasting, but I have never been to a "Master Class " on why  different shapes of glasses have been designed for different grape varieties.
It was an absolute revelation!!!!
How the shape of a glass can so influence your enjoyment of wine. For instance drink a Pinot Noir in a glass designed for Cabernet Sauvignon and it will taste acidic and have very little nose.
Drink the Pinot from the glass especially designed for this variety , and you get all the fruit on the nose and a wonderfully elegant wine to drink.
At the end of the evening we were all given the tasting glasses that we had been using, so full of enthusiasm we did an experiment the next evening.
We opened a bottle of Hatzidakis Mavrotragano 2007 ,this is a red wine literally translated as "Crispy Black" and tried it in a pinot glass and then a cabernet glass.
The difference in the taste and enjoyment was astounding.
In the cabernet glass it tasted very acidic with no fruit, but in the pinot noir glass it tasted balanced and full of fruit, truly wonderful.

Beetroot

Today is also market day in our nieghbourhood, and suddenly all the stalls are full of beetroot.
Small and sweet.
So they have been boiled and lunch will definetly be a salad of freshly cooked beetroot , feta cheese and red onions dressed with extra virgin olive oil and some fresh chopped parsley, eaten with a piece of crusty bread,
Simple and delicious.

Smokey Thursday

Today is known as "Smokey Thursday" in Greece. The explanation is that this is the last official day to eat meat before Lent begins. It is called smokey ,as all the traditional  meat tavernas will be packed full tonight , grilling lamb ,pork , beef kebabs  steaks and chops for all they are worth.
As a result the smoke bilges up into the sky.
Meat obviously is the main focus of the meal, but it is usually eaten with chips , bread and of course a traditional Greek salad.

Cauliflowers and Leeks

Cauliflowers and leeks are vegetables that most people would not generally associate with Greece. However during the winter months the market stalls are burgeoning with both these rather underated vegetables.
Leeks  (prassa) in Greece are used in pies (pittas) and often replace onions.
I tend to use them in hearty vegetable soups and in English style casseroles.
The cauliflwers are so fresh here, you rarely get that rather pungent smell after cooking.
Effi , who runs our lcal deli , told me she bakes cauliflower, cut into pieces with onions , garlic herbs ,tomatoes  and olive oil in the oven.
Most Greeks boil it and serve it as a winter salad dressed with olive oil and lemon juice.
My greek husband just loves english style cauliflower cheese.

Lunch and Red Wine Tasting

Sunday was the most glorious day , so after a morning tasting Red wines at Dionysia wine fair we met some friends for lunch by the sea.
More of that later.
The reds
 Well I only tasted Greek indigenous grape varieties , as that is my passion.
Stand outs
Moraitis Sillogi Red 2007 organic
ablend of Black Aidani 70% and Cabernet. Altho this wine is oaked the fruit shines through. I am sure that this is wine its so popular at London's New Mayfair branch of Hakkasan , where it is on by the glass.
All the Mercouri reds were good , they are of course Greek classics, you get a real sense of terrior with these wines, definite black olives on the nose.
Sclavos bio-dynamic dry Mavrodaphne from Kefalonia , this wine is a real mouthfull.
Katogo Averoff- Strofilia 2010 unoaked Aghioritiko a lovely example of the characteristics of this grape variety , bursting with morello cherries and red berry fruits.
Hatzidakis funky Mavrotragano 2008. One of the most unusual and esoteric Greek reds packed with character and fruit.
Mitrivella estates, Two Aghioritikos one unoaked the other oaked, both very good and made in a modern style.
Then time for lunch by the sea with friends.
Where the first thing we needed was a long cold beer as the temp was indeed 20 degrees plus and after tasting lots of reds you need a palate cleanser.
We then dined on a feast of Greek mezes, fava, deep fried kalamari, a beautiful salad of tomatoes , cucumber , roka and capers, grilled haloumi on a sauce of figs and balsamic syrup, deep fried peeled prawns all toppped off with the greek classic dessert of loucoumades (tiny fried balls of batter cover in cinnamon syrup )served with vanilla icecream.

A Weekend of Wine and Food

A busy weekend!!! There were two Exhibitions in Athens to visit, the Trade Exhibition "Food and Drink" and the Bi-Annual Athens Wine Fair "Dionysia" that is for the Trade and the Public.
Friday evening we paid a brief visit to the Food Exhibition , altho this event attracts the big boys there were some very interesting small producers there too, with some great products.
Stand outs were:
 The Graviera cheese made by the Cooperative from the island of Naxos. This was nutty , tasty, with a great texture , something like a cross between a top Gruyere and a aged English cheddar. Absolutely the best greek cheese that I have tasted.
 In a recent compition of Top 100 World Cheeses it came 9th.
Honey Spread from Cyprus. Using honey as a healthy base , they have added, carob, hazelnuts , almonds, creating products that are a very healthy and tasty alternative to jam, especially good for children.
There were some great Olive Oils and we were really impressed by the Olive Oil from Zakynthos made again by the Cooperative there.  Funky pink packaging.
Also the Olive Oil made by the Cretan Producer Vassilaki, absolutely delicious, with packaging that was chic and stylish.
Finally a Micro-Brewery based in Corfu, making Real Ale, Bitter and Lager they were all absolutely top quality.
Saturday saw us rock up for the Wine Exhibition , this was an opportunity to meet old friends , taste the new vintages and also meet some new producers.
One hundred and twenty wineries had tables, this is not for thr faint hearted.
Saturday was White wine Tasting.
Stand outs
2010 Vintage of Nassiakos Mantinea
2010 Vintage of Gentillini Single vineyard Robola (20% oaked but so delicate )
                       It just gave the wine a little more roundness and depth.
2010Vintage  Moraitis Paros (100% Monemvasia)
2010 Vintage Moraitis Sillogi organic (Assyrtiko/Malagousia) suddenly everone is talking up Malagousia , so well done to Roxanne Matza who was the main protagonist of this variety.
2010 Skouras Cuvee Prestige White ( a blend of Roditis & Moscofilero) this inexpensive white is consistantly a pleaser.
2009 Hatzidakis Nyteri ,WOW what a wine, not a quaffer , but big powerful , pineapple/grapefruit beautifully balanced and this was only the tank sample!!!
Hatzidakis 2010 Santorini and his Organic Cuvee 15 again thoroughbreds . Of course I may be a little biased as I have been working with Haridimos Hatzidakis for 10 years now.
Domaine Evharis Assyrtiko 2009, probably the best Assyrtiko outside of Santorini.
We also tasted quite a few good dry Muscats , excellent quaffers on a hot day.l

Wine Road of Macedinia Wine Fair

Last week I spent a very pleasant evening at the Wine fair showcasing wines from Northern Greece.
My favourite wine was probably "Ramnista" from the Kir Yianni winery. It is made from one of Greece's most famous red varieties Xynomavro, translated it means sharp or tart black.
This wine is elegant , the strong tanins having been tamed and guess what its also pretty good value for money. This red has great character.
I also liked the "Malagousia " made by Gerovassiliou and of course the "Ovilos" from Biblia Chora , a great blend of Semillon with Assyrtiko.

This weekend coming is the annual Athens Wine Fair, where all the new vintages are out to taste so I will report on that.

Samos Sweeties

I thought it was time to talk a little about wine. The dessert wines from the island of Samos are world famous. They are all made from the indigenous variety muscat petit grain. They continuosly win medals and trophies in International Wine Compitions, Two yearts ago the Grand Cru and the Anthyemis won Trophies in the prestigious Decanter compition in the UK.

A glut of lemons

Now is the time of year, not only for oranges but for lemons too. All the lemon tree branches are laden with ripe fruit, too many to use. A good friend delivered a large bag of fruit , fresh, picked from the lemon tree in his front garden.
So, I spent all day yesterday making, jam, a couple of lemon meringue pies and lemon curd, the latter two being more English than Greek, I have to admit.
The lemon curd is safely stored in the fridge waiting for a decadent moment, the pies eaten as we had friends for dinner last night andthe jam waiting to be stored away.
I will post jam rcipe as its so good and several people have asked for it. This is again an adaptation from a recipe from "Falling Cloudberries " by Tessa Kiros

Lemo& Vanilla Jam
6 Lemons , washed , de-pipped ,thinnly sliced and then cut into quarters.
1.25 kilos Preserving Sugar.
1.25 litres water
One vanilla pod halved length ways.
A large heavy bottomed pan

Put lemon quarters into the water and bring to boil and simmer for about 40 minutes, then add sugar & vanilla pod on a low heat , dissolve the sugar and then bring to a boil. Cook away for about 30-40 mins until setting point is reached. This jam sets very well due to the high pectin content.
Cool a little before putting into sterilised jars. I like to cut the vanilla pod into pieces and put one in each jar , so that as the marmalade matures it is infused with the beautiful aromatic vanilla, which some how gives a touch of class to this clean fresh jam.
This quantity makes about 6 jars jam.