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Thessaly

The land of the Olympian Gods

Thessaly is in the heart of mainland Greece and includes the biggest plain area in the whole country, with large cultivations and the most important agriculture production in terms of financial numbers.

Viticulture though takes only a small part of it, compared to other cultivations like cotton and grain.

There are a lot of indigenous and international varieties planted in the plain of Thessaly, like Assyrtiko, Roditis, Limnio, along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Cinsault. All of them produce great quality wines, however, two are consider to be the ultimate rising stars, during the last years: Batiki and Limniona.

Batiki can give white elegant wines, with medium body and acidity, but quite interesting structure. Limniona, produces red wines, with rich aromatic character, high level but smooth tannins and nicely balanced acidity. It stands definitely among the up-and-coming red grape varieties, during the last years, and gains more and more attention from the winemakers.

Thessaly is divided into 4 prefectures: Larissa and Magnissia on the east, Trikala and Karditsa on the west.

Larissa includes Mount Olympus in the north, a region that has great sentimental value for Greeks, as it was considered to be the home of the Greek Gods. Rapsani wine, produced in the lower foothills of Mount Olympus, was renowned as the “nectar of the Olympian Gods” in time. The varietal composition of PDO Rapsani, consists of Xinomavro, Krassato and Stavroto - in equal parts - and vineyards are cultivated all around the area, starting from 250m up to 700m altitude.

MOUNT OLYMPOS

Photo by Iason Raissis on Unsplash

The biggest viticultural center of Thessaly though is Tyrnavos, where apart from wine, the famous – traditional – Tsipouro, (i.e. a grape distillate) is produced in big quantities yet great quality. The main varieties planted in Tyrnavos are Hamburg Muscat and Roditis.

Trikala is another important city of Thessaly, located on the western end of the plain, in an area that is considered to be among the most mountainous in Greece, fully surrounded by the mountains Tzoumerka, Lakmos and Hasia.

Along this, the Pinios River, running through Trikala and the beautiful Meteora, embraced by the gigantic, imposing rocks, holding the 600 years’ monasteries on their tops, create a unique terroir from which PGI Meteora wines are born.

In Karditsa, lying below Trikala, apart from the high mountain slopes, there is Tavropos Lake, offering abundant water supplies for the cultivations, together with a large number of small rivers in the area. The main grape varieties are Hamburg Muscat, Batiki and Savatiano, as well as the local Rosaki or Rozaki, famous for light rosé or white light bodied wines.

PDO Messenikola wines, produced in the area from Mesenikola Black 70%, Carignan and Syrah (up to 30%), was added in the PDOs list in 1994. Both the name of the appellation as well as the village, are surrounded by a myth, describing that during the Ottoman Occupation, a French man, called Monsieur Nicolas, came to the area from France and played an important role to the local community. Among other things, viticulture was empowered and Monsieur Nicolas planted a red variety, called after him Mavro (Black) Messenikola.