Aivalis Winery is not well-listed by Google maps or Waze. Both want you to stop on a different road and walk across someone's vineyard to get to another perfectly good road which would drive by the winery, so after having driven up the road a bit to find a good place to turn around--the roads around this area are barely one car wide and abut to vineyards, we tried again and took the side road. As we now drove past the winery, which did have a sign, we saw construction of a new building which must have easily been the size of the existing building connected by a short hall, and wondered if this was a good time. Open hours were listed on Google until 2:00pm and it was only noon. I remarked that the gates to the winery were open, so we parked just past the construction and walked back.
We were greeted by an enthusiastic and large black dog who was fortunately on a tether, or we would most certainly have run back to the car. A woman came out and pulled the dog back, and we proceeded into the courtyard. A older man was sitting in a chair outside, getting a haircut. He spoke no English, and we didn't speak enough Greek for this transaction, so we brought out Google translators. Randall went first with some question something like wanting to learn more about his wines. He tersely replied "no tasting". I had another question loaded in my translator because by this point, the 20 year old barber wasn't offering to help translate, although it was apparent he understood more English than his client, and this for all the world had the hallmark of being in the presence of a Greek godfather. "Can we buy some wine?" "Yes."
Once we got that settled, then he showed us his wine on his phone, the barber still getting in periodic snips. We settled on two bottles of "Le Sang de la Pierre" (French named wine in Greece???), paid in cash (50€)--a transaction that will never see a spreadsheet--and left.
However, the Nemean wine region is a lot like Napa or Stellenbosch, or any other region known for its wine, and there were dozens of municipal signs listing the wineries with arrows and distances. Well, one was Lantides, and thanks to a dear friend who introduced me to this winery a couple of years ago, I bought all their aigiorgitiko until Total Wine stopped stocking it. Three minutes later, we pulled into Lantides Winery, surprised a couple of workers there, had an impromptu tasting of two bottles (Cuvée and a 2021 aigiorgitiko), and walked out with 6 bottles, including some random whites (moschofilero and a white blend). As a kicker, we were gifted the remainders of the two bottles that we had sampled.
We drank well that night. And I have the contact information for both wineries US distributors! Lantides to NY (same as Silva), and Aivalis to Washington, D.C. My guess is the latter is enjoyed by the embassy.
I will also make an observation about the cost of wine in Greece. I will begin by reiterating that Sense is a 1-star Michelin restaurant. While they were predominantly pairing their food with Greek wines (what grows together goes together), they were by no means serving cheap wine, yet we have come to the realization that there is a maximum price for wine in Greece, somewhere around 25€ a bottle. Now, in the US, most people show up to a party with a bottle around $20, but wine, even domestic wine, can soar to astronomical prices $100s, even $1000s, of dollars puts into perspective the economic forces of production and consumption in Greece. Almost every village has a vineyard, and makes their own wine. "Box wine" is still incredibly popular, and one can buy 1.5L of white, rose or red in a plastic bottle in any grocery store or convenience store for about 5-8€. A nice and reasonable glass bottle wine will be the same price for 750ml. Despite offering a bottled-wine menu at every restaurant in Chalkida or Nafplio, we could still get house wine for 4-7€ for 500 ml. So, coming to a dinner party with a 25€ bottle of wine is like bringing a $100 bottle in the US. It sends a message.
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