How to Speak Greek

Reflection No. 38

Of the 300 autochthonous varieties of Greece, three of the most important are Xinomavro from Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) Macedonia, Moscofilero from PDO Mantinia and Agiorghitiko from PDO Nemea. The wines are exciting and worth being able to ask for by name, but doing so is not easy. For those who do not know the Greek alphabet, pronunciation of the Greek words seems impossible: Ξινόμαυρο, Μοσχοφίλερο and Αγιωργίτικο. Even when they are written in the Latin alphabet, they are pronounced very differently than they look to English speakers.

So when I went to Greece to meet with winemakers in these regions, I asked for pronunciation lessons. But it turned out that trying to understand what I was hearing was just as challenging as reading the words. The first syllable of Xinomavro [Ksee no' ma vro] sounds nothing like it looks! Xi, corresponding to the Greek letter Ξ, is pronounced “ksee,” but I had been reading an X all along. And when Apostolos Thymiopoulos threw in “Gewürtztraminer,” syllables from too many languages were swirling.

Moscofilero [Moss ko fee' le ro] was a little easier, although I kept trying to add an extra i and make it sound Italian or something. I think I even confused Yiannis Tselepos, but he was very patient. Agiorghitiko [Ay yor gir' ti ko] was the most challenging of all, but thanks to George Skouras, I was able to figure it out and even learn a few more words while I was at it. Agiorghitiko actually means “St. George’s grape,” so it seemed apropos that George had planted it in his first vineyard and had come up with the perfect way to remember how to say it.

The wines of Greece are alive and enlivening, as much fun to drink as they are to pronounce. Thanks to Apostolos, Yiannis and George, I can order their wines with confidence and enjoy the transcendental journey into the omorfiá (“beauty”), or ομορφιά, of their aromas and flavors.

I recorded the experience in this video, which received an honorable mention from Wine Spectator for the most educational video in 2018. 

See other Terroir Talking videos on Vimeo.