You don’t need a reason to celebrate to enjoy a glass of Kir-Yianni’s delicious dry sparkling rosé wine, Akakies. The wine comes from the PDO zone of Amyndeon in Northwestern Greece and is made from 100% Xinomavro, one of Greece’s noblest grapes. Akakies is bright pink, “cherry” colored, as the winemaker describes it. It...
In summer, one of my favorite quaffes is champagne and almost any form of sparkling wine, so long as it is, well, good. I love it chilled in the afternoon, a drink to sip instead of ouzo, which knocks me out and dulls my palate if I indulge in it too much. For years,...
Pun intended: The Donkey Beers are…kick-ass! Despite the “frigid” and uncertain economic times Greece is going through, a small group of optimistic–and slightly crazy–friends (as they describe themselves) took a risk and opened one of Greece’s most innovative businesses, the Santorini Brewing Company. The driving spirit behind the brewery is none other than Yiannis...
Tsipouro, the Greek grape distillate, just went upmarket. Many of you may have sampled tsipouro, or its cousins, the Cretan raki and tsikoudia, on visits to Greece or in Greek homes. It’s our “fire water,” the Greek answer to grappa, a grape distillate that Greeks have been making and enjoying for generations. Traditional Greek...
By the 7th century b.C. Rhodes was a noteworthy producer and trader of wines. The island’s wines reached every part of the ancient world, so important an export they were. Broken amphorae with the Rhodian indication of origin have been found in many disparate parts of the Mediterranean. Even under the Ottomans, as trade...
Grape must is the vine’s utilitarian child. Obviously as old as the vine itself, the unfermented juice of the grape has found a place in the annals of gastronomy from earliest times, in ways which have changed surprisingly little over the centuries. The tart juice of unripe grapes, for example, was used by the...
