Greece: Winemaking

Since the mid 1980s, almost all Greek wineries have had some sort of refrigeration and the sort of hygiene afforded by the use of stainless steel vats. Even the oldest co-operatives have now made such investments.

As in other Mediterranean areas, the 1980s were characterized by early picking and cool fermentations enabled by temperature control that resulted in clean but characterless white wines of about 11.5% alcohol. Such techniques as skin contact, slightly later picking, and deliberate oxidation of the must prior to fermentation were used by some of the more daring producers from the early 1990s to develop more interesting wines. In the 2010s, winemaking technology is as modern as anywhere, although the trend is a return to traditional methods such as fermentation using ambient yeasts and reduced sulfur additions.