“Greece is very much on trend right now, whether we’re talking about food, wine or the place itself. It’s not long ago that Greek food and Greek wine, were the butt of jokes, always compared unfavourably to Italy and Spain, but now the country is really having its moment. People are eating out less but differently, sharing what they order and experimenting,” says Steve Daniel, wine development director at Hallgarten & Novum Wines.
Steve Daniel takes Justin Keay through some of the new additions to Hallgarten's Greek portfolio
We are sitting in the Swan at the Globe pub on London’s Southbank on a lazy afternoon, the sun-dappled Thames looking uncharacteristically calm and blue, tourists walking the Thames Path towards the Globe and Tate Modern. Visitors to Hallgarten’s Greece Uncorked tasting, clutching their glasses of Assyrtiko or Malagousia, stand on the balcony, looking out at the boats sailing past, absorbed in the positive vibe.
“We wanted to spread the word across the UK by holding these tastings and showing off what I believe is the best range of Greek wines in the trade, with wineries from Drama in Macedonia in the far north all the way to Crete down south (the impressive Idaia Winery with its unique, saline Thrapsathiri). It’s been a long journey for the Greek wine industry – it’s gone from 30 wineries to 1300 in 30 years – but today it’s in a really good place. And the story is still unfolding.”
Daniel’s enthusiasm for Greek wine is well known across the UK trade but he insists his approach is purely professional.
“At the end of the day I’m a wine buyer and the wine has to stand head and shoulders above the competition and represent great value.”
The trip that started it all - Steve Daniel (second from left) with chums on a Greek adventure
However, there’s something else at play here. Inside the Greece Uncorked catalogue there are photos of a young Steve with three mates in Mykonos in 1979, having arrived for what turned out to be a rather long holiday. He remembers the visit – “we stayed for weeks, and yes we did have some of that awful screw-capped retsina they served up in tavernas, and lots of ouzo” – and is still in touch with the other guys there, all of whom, like him, went onto develop their love for Greece by buying houses there.
Daniel went on to focus on Greek wine at Oddbins, initially with such wines as Santorini Assyrtiko (when he started out it was cheap – now you’re lucky to find one under £35 a bottle) but then making more discoveries across this viticulturally and topographically diverse country.
As the photo suggests, this was the era of Prog Rock: the hair, the flares, the attitude all recalling the hey-day of early Genesis, early Floyd, Yes and Emerson Lake and Palmer. “Great days, great memories,” he smiles.
Just the start of Greek wine’s journey
Daniel reckons Greek rosé is really one a roll right now – and usually made from either Xinomavro or Agiorgitiko or even Moschofilero, like Pinot Gris, actually a pink skinned variety. Most really face off well against Provence.
When I point out to Daniel that, aside from Santorini and Crete, Hallgarten offers no wines from the Greek Islands, which have a wide range of unusual and often unique grape varieties, he says that may soon change.
“I think that with all the focus on tourism, many of them almost forgot how to make wine. Places like Corfu or Rhodes, which make barely any wine at all, despite huge industries that would be hungry for it. But it just takes one producer to change the dynamic. Look at Tinos – the well-financed T-OINOS vineyards and winery have encouraged four others on the island to try their hand at producing, with some encouraging results. In Naxos and Patmos too, we are seeing new producers emerge.”
Likewise, Greece and its many varieties: over 300, many millennia old. Assyrtiko and Xinomavro have attracted most consumer interest to date, but other varieties are coming up fast, not least Malagousia, Kydonitsa and Moschofilero, all showing very differently but all fresh and dynamic and exciting.
“At the end of the day wine is about discovering something new. And Greece really is just getting started,” says Daniel.
“Wish you were here?” I’m not surprised – this was one of the most enjoyable and fun tastings of the year and here were the wines that stood out on the day.
Greece Uncorked tasting, Swan at the Globe, London, July 7, 2026
Alpha Estate (Amyndeo, NW Greece)
It seems hard to believe that this estate, founded by vine grower Makis Mavridis and Bordeaux-trained winemaker Angelos Iatrides, is now turning out around one million bottles. One of the mainstays of the Hallgarten portfolio, quality is key here and no more so than in its Single Vineyard Hedgehog Xinomavro 2025: the winery’s Spyros Petrides says this has won the award for Best Greek Rosé for several years since 2015. 100% Xinomavro, quite pale but with lots of character and suggestions of raspberry and quince, very fresh and fruity. By contrast the ultra-premium Xinomavro Reserve Vielles Vignes, Single Block Barba Yannis 2022 is a more complex take on the variety, small barrel ageing for the grapes giving great length and savoury character, supported by warming, velvety tannins.
GAI’A Wines (Santorini and Nemea)
Choosing a wine or two from the iconic Yiannis Paraskevopoulos’s wonderful portfolio – which comprises wines from Santorini and the Peloponnese, with production now 500,000 bottles – is tough, because frankly they are all so damn good, especially the Assyrtikos. But I’ll highlight the Moschofilero Wild Ferment 2025 by GAI'A, a wonderfully complex and rich take on the aromatic variety, one of my favourites: this has rose blossom and jasmine with buttery richness supported by lively acidity. A classic, as is my other choice, the Ammonite Assyrtiko 2023, the jewel in the crown: a rare single vineyard wine from the island, 10% oak aged, the remainder aged in stainless steel on their lees. Complex, rounded but with lovely acidity, this beauty will age for years.
Ktima Biblia Chora (Macedonia)
If I’m honest, some of the mainland Assyrtiko now being produced to satisfy demand for Greece’s best-known variety leave me slightly cold: very different obviously from that made on Santorini but too often in search of an emphatic style or character. Two wines produced by this highly regarded organic estate, established almost 30 years ago by Vassilis Tsaktsarlis and Vangelis Gerovassiliou are certainly not that. The new Areti White 2024 from Pangeon is 100% Assyrtiko, very focused and fresh, with a clean attractive style that suggests lemon, basil leaf and good balance, with a long mineral finish. The Ovilos 2024 – a Daniel favourite – is well structured, quite fruit forward but with some complexity, an equal mix of Assyrtiko and Semillon.
Ktima Dio Ipsi (Peloponnese)
Some 12 years ago the above two producers (Vassilis Tsaktsarlis and Vangelis Gerovassiliou) took over this organic estate, whose name means ‘Two Heights’: it was originally founded back in 1990 by pharmacist Christos Kokkalis, who won acclaim with his Trilogia label. They’ve hit the ground running with Dialogos White 2025, produced in the Agios Andreas region of Ilia, an equal blend of Assyrtiko and Kydonitsa, a revived variety whose name is derived from the Greek word for quince, flavours of which the grape often resembles. This is a lovely blend, showing how well producers are blending Greece’s best-known variety with delightful lesser-known ones.
Ktima Gerovassiliou (Macedonia)
If the gaggle of people at this table was anything to go by, here’s another producer causing a serious stir amongst visitors. Established by Evangelos Gerovassiliou (father of Vangelis) in 1981, its biggest claim to fame is reviving Malagousia from almost total extinction – no small thing, given that this is now amongst Greece’s most loved white varieties. And its 100% Malagousia from Epanomi, 2025 is still one of the standard bearers for the variety, fruit forward but showing great elegance and poise. But this is one of those producers which does everything well: the 100 hectare estate now produces some 800,000 bottles from such varieties as Chardonnay, Viognier and, amongst the reds, Limnio, Mavrotragono and Mavroudi, which go into my second favourite from here, the complex, brooding but fresh and medium bodied Avaton 2022, surely one of the best Greek reds on the market.
Monemvasia Winery Tsimbidi (Peloponnese)
Best known for reviving the Malvasia wine for which this region was once world famous, the winery (established 30 years ago and with Hallgarten since 2013) continues to work with the grape, called here, like the winery, Monemvasia : the White Dry 2024 is pleasing, fruit forward with suggestions of peach on the palate, whilst for stunning dessert wine you can’t beat the Monemvasia Malvasia Vin Liastos 2012, a moreish, well balance blend of four white varieties.
Muses Estate (Central Greece)
Something for everyone at this 80-year-old winery, transformed and expanded by Athanasios Zacharias in 1967 in the iconic Valley of the Muses in Central Greece. I’ve never really warmed to Savatiano, Greece’s most planted variety and often used for retsina, but I liked the 700 Thespians 2024, well-made and partially aged in concrete to give it extra distinctiveness. The wine on everyone’s lips though was the old vine Mouhtaro 2024, a fascinating, opulent highly expressive red variety which, according to Stelios Zacharias, shows something different to everyone who tastes it, a sort of Circe of grape varieties. “Some people get sepia, others fig and marmalade… and of course there is lots of dark berry and cherry fruit,” he says. The buyer tasting with me was literally speechless, just managing to utter “In a world of homogenous wine, this is something truly remarkable”. Quite so.
Oenops Wines (Macedonia/Drama)
Two standouts from this relatively new – since 2015 – winery, a delicious red Limniona 2023, tangy and exotic, quite fruit driven, and far and away my favourite rosé of the event, Apla Rosé 2024, an exotic and well-balanced blend of Xinomavro (50%), Mavroudi (30%) and Limniona (20%), very fresh, fruit driven and well-priced too. A winner.
Navitas Winery (Macedonia)
Located in the Pieria region of northern Greece, near Mt Olympus, this newish producer (around 20,000 bottles a year) specialises in fresh wines, including the very decent Terre de Zeus Malagousia 2024, well balanced and savoury with a distinct struck-match character on the palate and the very decent Mountcloud Grenache Rosé 2023, still singing and showing lots of herbal and bay-leaf character despite its age.
Theopetra Estate (Meteora)
More truly great rosé from this Thessaly-based organic producer, which this year celebrates its 30th anniversary at its original site, near the iconic Meteora rocks. The honours here go to the Xinomavro Rosé 2025, fruit forward but balanced with some complexity and length. My notes say “Wow!” and maybe I should leave it at that. The Limniona 2022 is a beauty, the four years of ageing giving profound character to a busy palate featuring cherry, sweet spice, black pepper and quince. Great length too.
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