The Wines of Distomo...(cont'd)

Distomo has always produced excellent grapes and wines. But it wasn't the quality of its wines that distinguished my village from many of its neighbors. Along with olive oil and wheat they were the local staples that helped the village weather many man-made disasters like the Great Depression, World War II and the Civil War in the late forties. Not only they provided modest income for many villagers, they gave them a sense of security that as long as they had bread, olives and some wine, they could make it. And they did.

Traditionally most vines were left to grow as bush vines and they consisted mainly of white grape varieties dating back to ancient Greece. Phylloxera, a vine root disease that obliterated French vines in late 19th century, devastated Greek vines in the second half of the 20th century as well. This introduced new varietals, mostly from France, and with the new vines it brought new and improved viticulture practices. Most of the new vineyards have been designed with trellis systems on wires and, whenever possible, irrigation systems have been installed. White grape varieties have dominated Greek vineyards since ancient times and in that respect my village was not any different. More than 300 indigenous, ancient grape varieties--white and red--have been discovered although considerable work remains to be done in wine identification.

For more on the Wines of Distomo, visit my website The Wine Cellar.