Top 100 red wines of Aegean Sea
Discover the top 100 best red wines of Aegean Sea as well as the best winemakers in the region. Explore the varietals of the red wines that are popular of Aegean Sea and the best vintages to taste in this region.
Discovering the wine region of Aegean Sea
The Aegean Islands – the most famous of which are Crete, Dodecanese/rhodes">Rhodes, Samos and Cyclades/santorini">Santorini – lie in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey. The islands have a Long and influential winemaking history spanning thousands of years, but in the modern day are most famous for Santorini's Dry, minerally, white wines made from Assyrtico-based white wines made from Assyrtico.
The Aegean Sea covers roughly 83,000 square miles (215,000 sq km) between the Southern coast of Greek Macedonia and Crete in the south. Several groups of islands make up the Aegean archipelago, including the Sporades in the North, the Dodecanese just off the coast of Turkey and the Cyclades near the Attica coast.
Vines are grown on nearly every inhabited island in the Aegean Sea.
The Minoan civilization on Crete is thought to have been the first in Europe, and wine production dates back to at least 5000B. C. , as evidenced by ancient wine Presses that have been discovered across the island.
The 5th Century BC poet Homer described the thriving wine trade in the Aegean in both the Iliad and the Odyssey, and discoveries across the Mediterranean basin of ancient amphorae bearing Aegean insignia suggest that wine was one of the chief economies here in classical Greece.
The famed Malvasia-based Sweet wines were produced on many of the Aegean Islands during the period of Venetian rule in the Middle Ages, particularly on Crete, Rhodes and Paros. These wines were exported across Europe between the 14th and 17th Centuries, slating the thirst of well-to-do Parisians, Londoners and Fiorentini. Unfortunately, the period of Ottoman rule that followed saw a major decline in this trade, as well as in wine production across the Aegean Islands.
Discover the grape variety: Cabernet franc
Cabernet Franc is one of the oldest red grape varieties in Bordeaux. The Libourne region is its terroir where it develops best. The terroirs of Saint-Emilion and Fronsac allow it to mature and develop its best range of aromas. It is also the majority in many blends. The very famous Château Cheval Blanc, for example, uses 60% Cabernet Franc. The wines produced with Cabernet Franc are medium in colour with fine tannins and subtle aromas of small red fruits and spices. When blended with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, it brings complexity and a bouquet of aromas to the wine. It produces fruity wines that can be drunk quite quickly, but whose great vintages can be kept for a long time. It is an earlier grape variety than Cabernet Sauvignon, which means that it is planted as far north as the Loire Valley. In Anjou, it is also used to make sweet rosé wines. Cabernet Franc is now used in some twenty countries in Europe and throughout the world.
Food and wine pairing with a red wine of Aegean Sea
red wines from the region of Aegean Sea go well with generally quite well with dishes of beef, lamb or spicy food such as recipes of homemade italian lasagna, lamb kleftiko (greek) or traditional hungarian goulash.
Organoleptic analysis of red wine of Aegean Sea
On the nose in the region of Aegean Sea often reveals types of flavors of cherry, oaky or smoke and sometimes also flavors of earthy, blackberry or minerality.
