Wine & Spirits
Spirits of the Vine
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By Konstantinos Lazarakis Photographs: G.Detsis, C.Moustafellou, Constantine Pittas, V.Stenos Food Styling: Tina Webb Greeks have always found ways to live their lives in the most decent and enjoyable way, and, despite a history of wars, invasions, political turmoil, and poverty, have even allowed for a few small luxuries. Like all traditional Mediterranean societies, Greeks long ago mastered the art of “making something out of nothing.” You can still see that today, in the floor rugs made from strips of rag that adorn Greek country homes, in the array of artful leftovers savored the next day at the table, and, surprisingly, in the distillates made from leftover grapes, from what otherwise would be the unwanted remains of the winemaking process. Grape distillates are very popular in wine-producing areas, mainly poor ones, just because they help the producer make use of every possible bit of the vine. The concept is simple: Wine production starts with grapes harvested at optimum ripeness and delivered to a winery. The winemaker presses the grapes, drains the juice (must), and places it in a vat to start fermenting. Alcoholic fermentation happens when yeasts attack the sugars in the must, turning them into alcohol and producing carbon dioxide as a by-product. Wine makers never press their grapes to the point that no juice will be left in them (because pressing them dry would make for bad wine), but what is left nonetheless has value.  The stalks, grape skins, seeds, and grape pulp, still have a certain amount of juice left after pressing and this juice will inevitably start fermenting whether separated from the solids or not. After 15 to 30 days, the conversion of sugar to alcohol will be finished, although the amount of alcohol produced is small and very difficult to separate from the grape solids. One of the easiest ways to extract and concentrate alcohol is distillation, a practice known to Greeks for millennia. Copper pots are always used to distill the fermented grape pomace because copper binds-thus eliminating- any sulphurous aromas. As the pot is heated (in older, traditional stills the heat is a woodburning fire, but in modern distilleries it is steam or electrical resistances), vapors rise from the boiler up through its swan-neck pipe then through a second vat filled with water, called the condenser. The condenser's purpose is to cool the pipe containing the vapors, which form inside a coil-like contraption. What is collected at the end of the pipe is the condensedhence liquefied-vapor: the spirit. The principle behind the distillation process lies in the fact that alcohol evaporates at a lower temperature than water. So, heating a pulp of solids, water, and alcohol within a range of temperatures results in increased percentage of alcohol. The first and the last parts of the spirit are discarded, because the “head,” or first part, is high in methanol, and the “tail,” or last part, is overbearingly heavy in aromas. All the elegant flavors and best quality is in the middle, the “heart.” Distillation can be repeated a number of times, giving progressively stronger spirits, but most spirits are not more than double distilled.  LONG HISTORY Although distillation has been known in Greece for thousands of years, probably first as a way to make perfumes and elixirs, the first written references to distillations— although not specifically to potable products—date to the 1st century A.D. To my mind, it seems all but impossible that at least a small, perhaps elite, number of Greeks knew of —and tasted— the art of distilled drinks; how else to explain the ancient Greek word, oinopnevma, which literally means wine spirit? The recent history of distillation in Greece, however, for all intents and purposes, began in the early 20th century, when a large number of Asia Minor Greeks (Mikrasiates) were forced to relocate to Greece. Many settled in Macedonia and brought their sophisticated food and spirits traditions with them, many of which, in fact, were co-opted from the customs of the Ottoman Empire. Among those traditions was a penchant for strong, aromatic grape spirits, what the Turks call raki and the Armenians and Lebanese know as arak. These eventually became tsipouro and tsikoudia to the Greeks. The Asia Minor refugees had long been “caressing the copper,” as a saying here goes, and they infused the local spirits industry with new knowledge and techniques. Today, some of the finest producers of grape distillates in Greece hail from the families of those early Asia Minor Greek refugees. Until the beginning of the 20th century, most Greek distillations were produced at home, solely for family consumption. The few “commercial” producers who distilled in order to sell competed, albeit locally, and so had to devise ways to differentiate their drinks from those of their neighbors and competitors. There were no large brands. Fragmentation fostered localization, which is why, for example, producers are often clustered in a few well-established areas, such as Tyrnavo, in Thessaly, and Macedonia in the north of Greece. By the 1930s, however, large companies emerged, pushing production and consumption beyond Greece's traditional markets. Today the industry is characterized by both artisan and commercial producers.  Distillation has been known in Greece for thousands of years. How else to explain the ancient Greek word “oinopnevma,” which literally means “wine spirit.” THREE TYPES OF GRAPE DISTILLATES Today, grape-derived spirits fall into three broad categories: brandy, which is the spirit produced from the distillation of finished wine; pomace spirits, made by distilling the pulp; and, finally, spirits obtained from the fermentation and subsequent distillation of whole, unpressed grape bunches. Brandy is not as popular in Greece as it is, for example, in France, perhaps because the country's temperate climate is not conducive to drinking a warming glass of the amber spirit. There are, however, a few large brandy producers, most of whom make a unique national specialty, not quite a brandy in the classic, French sense, but a brandy-based liqueur that is blended with herbs and sweet Muscat wine. It is popular among consumers who don't like hard liquor but appreciate the spirit's veiled fragrance and sweetness.  CRYSTAL CLEAR The undisputed king of Greek spirits is no doubt the crystal clear fiery drink made of distilled grape pomace, produced mainly in Macedonia, Thrace, Epirus, Thessaly, and Crete and called either tsipouro, tsikoudia, or raki. There are slight differences between the three. Tsipouro, is distilled twice and as a result is a bit more elegant in flavor than the single-distilled tsikoudia, which is a specialty of Crete. However, many tsikoudia producers also double distill. There are three styles of Tsipouro: full-bodied but low in aromas; lean but expressive; and, finally, those that are flavored with anise. The last type, mainly produced in Thessaly and Macedonia, is very close to Ouzo in character but is less sweet. The grape variety in the pomace plays a major role in determining the ultimate style of the tsipouro. For example, aromatic varieties such as Muscat are used to produce more pungent tsipouro, while red grape varieties produce a spirit with a fuller palate. How much head or tail is retained and how long or short the heart is also play a significant part in defining the ultimate character of the tsipouro. In Greece, tsipouro is consumed both as an aperitif and as a digestive. Many Greek restaurants serve a shot glass of tsipouro as part of the cover, with bread and olives; at home, many people consume tsipouro after a meal, together with dessert, or fruit, or even with coffee. In Crete, the local tsikoudia is a round-the-clock panacea and reason to toast just about everything and a drink that defines every social interaction. All the grape spirits of Greece are interwoven with the social fabric of Greeks themselves. Translate: The spirits are often paired with the greatest of all social vehicles-food. There is a general rule, however: “Drink Ouzo with everything that comes from the sea and Tsipouro or Tsikoudia with what comes from the mountains.”  DISTILLED WHOLE GRAPES The third and final type of grape distillate in Greece is called Apostagma Stafylis, which is a distillation of whole, often single varietal, grapes in an effort to enhance the marketing image of this strong Greek drink. Traditionally, tsipouro and tsikoudia, despite their fine quality, were the fiery drinks of Greece's farming set not jet set, and so for a long time had a marketing issue to overcome. But grape distillates are both more sophisticated and sexier, and so can command higher prices. To make the Apostagma Stafylis, grape bunches are neither pressed nor their juices drained. Instead the berries are harvested, placed in vats and left to ferment. No juice is drained and, after the end of the fermentation, the complete contents of the vat are placed in the boiler and distilled. Growers dedicate sections of their vineyards to the varieties destined for the still. The resulting drink is much finer and more complex than Tsipouro, showing more grace than sheer power. Most Apostagma Stafylis in the marketplace is, in fact, produced from single varietal grapes, which ensures that the grape's innate character is manifested in the distillation. Muscat and Moschofilero grapes lead the way for aromatic distillations, while Roditis, Agiorgitiko, or even Cabernet Sauvignon are more angular and intense. Some of the Greek single variety distillates have an added dimension, too: The top bottlings are oak-aged. These can be superlative and as a result command top price. Greeks have been “caressing the copper” as I mentioned earlier, for a very long time, and, in a way, the copper has turned to gold: In the last few years local grape distillates have taken market share from other, imported liquors. Come to think of it, why slurp a pricey cocktail in a noisy bar when the spirits of the vine beckon crystal clear and pure?  TSIPOURO AND MEZE The pairing of tsipouro and food enjoys its greatest expression in an area of Greece generally off the tourist map, in Thessaly, namely around the port of Volos. Here, dozens of tsipouradika-tsipouro restaurants-dot the landscape, serving forth the fiery drink with a unique and wholly local ritual. With every shot or round (a 50 ml. carafe or bottle) comes a new and different small meze. You don't actually order food but a whole round, and each time the chef orchestrates another matching tidbit. It isn't uncommon for there to be dozens of different dishes on the menu; the more rounds you order the greater the variety of food you get to sample. There is a logic to the order: generally the mild plates are served first; then the dishes get progressively spicier, saltier, and pungent; finally they crescendo and the parade of flavours tapers back to mild. The waiter or chef orchestrates the sequence; no plate is ever repeated at a given table, so that which each new round you're also getting a completely new dish. |
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