Samos Cooperative, Karlovasi & Vathi, Samos Domaines
Wines Article No. Grape varieties Year Pack.
Samos Vin Doux A.O.C. 4741 Muscat à petits grains 2009 6
Samos Grand Cru A.O.C. 4742 Muscat à petits grains 2008 6
Samos Anthemis A.O.C. 4743 Muscat à petits grains 2000 6
Samos Nectar A.O.C. 4744 Muscat à petits grains 2002 6
Samos Phyllas A.O.C. 4745 Muscat à petits grains 2006 6
Samos Golden Samena A.O.C. 4746 Muscat à petits grains upon request 12
The Samos Cooperative has the honor of presiding over Greece's best known and most highly regarded appellation. One of Greece's original cooperatives, the Samos takes very seriously its role as guardian of the island's famous Muscat tradition. The cooperative, in fact, has played an important role in reviving an industry that was a shadow of its formal self at the time of the the cooperative's inception in 1934 (see Samosin.gr, Regions: Samos). Today, the reputation of its wines firmly restored to the glory they knew during the era of Phylloxera in France in the nineteenth century, the cooperative boasts 25 sub-cooperatives comprising 4000 members, an annual production of around seven million litres or 9000 tonnes and 130 employees.
The bulk of vineyard area on Samos is found in the west, north and central parts of the island. [map of Samos] Because of the island's steep terrain many of her vineyards, especially those at high elevation, are planted on pezoules, or terraces. Vines occupy nearly every level of elevation from coastal locations to 800 meters such as in mountainous zones above the key grapegrowing village of Vourliotes on the north face of Mount Ambelos.
We travelled up winding dirt roads past Vourliotes with Giorgios Roussos, the cooperative's marketing head, in order to see the uppermost vineyards and the famous spring on Ambelos as well as to evaluate the effects of recent fires on grapegrowing. Having nearly purchased our own vineyards there some three years back, we had visited the area before. Passing by the Vrontianis monastary, we were dismayed by the loss of this beautiful landmark, its stone structure still intact, but its contents lost and its formerly beautiful tree-lined entrance sadly denuded. "The fires," commented Roussos, "were disastrous in all the obvious ways. But it is the nature of forest fires that the vineyards are too low, too sparse and contain too little fuel to attract fire. Therefore the primary effect of the fires on grapegrowing was the erosion caused by loss of ground cover." As we drove ever higher, we encountered places where the access roads had been rained out or covered by landslides. "This means harvesting in these areas can be more difficult and expensive. The good news," he said pointing out large, charred tree trunks sprouting new shoots, "is that the damage was limited almost exclusively to a height above the soil line. Many of these trees are already well on their way to recovery."

We stopped and drank from a spring whose water is regarded as among the best in Greece. Water from sources such as this one is never far in Samos. The vines, to the extent that they need irrigation, are, by Greek standards, fairly easily fed.

Grapes are harvested steadily from the beginning of August to the beginning of October. During the period leading up to and during the harvest the cooperative's oenological team can be found systematically evaluating its growers' vineyards. Vineyards such as the ones we visited produce the cooperative's best fruit. Final evaluation takes place at the loading dock at each of the two wineries, one at Vathi and the other at Karlovasi. Must of different qualities is vinified separately then evaluated and blended later.

The cooperative extracts the widest possible range of variety from its single Muscat component. Dry wines of increasing quality and a rosé made from the indigenous Fokianos and Ritinos varieties round out the core portfolio of four dessert wines. We tasted the cooperative's wines with Manolis Tsakalidis, Head Oenologist at the Vathi winery.

Samos Vin Doux
This wine is vinified from grapes from semi-mountainous zones and fortified to 15%. It is a simple, classic dessert Muscat. Its flavors are clean, without bitterness and accompanied by unmitigated musky aromas typical of the variety. It exhibits less acidity than the other Samos products and doesn't entirely mask its fortifying spirits. Still, it is classic old world Muscat and is undoubtedly one of the best of its kind in its price range in the world.

Samos Grand Cru
From select, low yield/high elevation vineyards, this wine is a clear window on the essential effect of grape quality on sweet wine production and an advertisement for Samos as a wine region generally. As gold in color as wine can be, the Grand Cru balances solid acidity with intense fruit, including sweet peach flavors. In this wine the fortifying alcohol has disappeared, well integrated within the sturdy structure and rich fruit of the must itself. Competitive with any sweet Muscat we have tasted, explaining, perhaps, why it is among France's most highly regarded dessert wines.

Samos Anthemis
We find Miles Lambert-Gocs' explanation of the meaning of the name "Anthemis" so complete, that we will simply quote it: "apparently known to Guérin, this sort of wine was referred to by him as anthosmie, the Gallicized rendering of the Greek anthosmia, or 'flower smell', that is, 'bouquet'. The term, rather than the particular type of wine, dates back to the ancient Greeks, who applied it to the smell of sound older wines, and also had a wine which they produced by a particular technique and called anthosmias. EOSS [the Samos Cooperative] has in this case altered the name for marketing purposes, while otherwise leaving the tradition of Samian anthosmia intact. [The Wines of Greece, p.25]

Like the Vin Doux this wine is made from fruit sourced from semi-mountainous vineyards. It is then aged for five years in oak. During its aging it acquires an attractive amber color with what the cooperative's literature accurately describes as "chestnut blonde" on the edge. While it exhibits some of the Vin Doux's overt strength, there is some raisin and other dried fruit flavor on the palate that is quickly subsumed into pleasant oak characteristics such as butterscoth, toffee, herbed honey and even light molasses. This complexity and a long finish ultimately soften nicely the impact of the wine's strength.
 
Samos Nectar
Samos Nectar is the island's Muscat-based equivalent to Vinsanto. Select bunches of grapes are sun-dried, vinified then aged for three years in oak. Since there is no fortification, it is in interesting, soft contrast to the cooperative's other sweet wines. It's aromas are more intense, boosted by oak and spicy layers of dried fruit and flowers. Its color is less concentrated than the Anthemis', a sort of café with ochre highlights. Even with sturdy acidity, it is, above all a soft experience. A velvety mouth feel makes it pleasant to just roll the liquid slowly around the mouth. With an alcohol level slightly beneath that of the other Samos dessert wines, this makes for the most easy drinking. as an accompaniment it is also a match for a wider variety of desserts.

Text and Photos courtesy of Nick Cobb, greekwinemakers.com
Antonopoulos

Averoff

Biblia Chora

Creta Olympias

Driopi

Evharis

Gerovassiliou

Harlaftis

Hatzimichalis

Kyr-Yianni

Constantin Lazaridis

Mercouri

Pavlidis

Samos Cooperative

Sigalas

Strofilià

Tselepos


Ouzo

Sans Rival

Barbayanni