Two Sore Backs

The thought of visiting Nemea took hold in Pylos, after eating at Koukos Wine Restaurant. We had given the manager/sommelier, who we had met earlier when he was unloading a truckfull of olive wood at the restaurant’s back door, a modest budget and he brought us a bottle from the Papaioannou Winery in Nemea. We really enjoyed it – excellent value.

Nemea is in the northeast of the Peloponnese, about 30 minutes north of Nafplion.  We were coming from Ithaca in the northwest, via the ferry to Patras, which meant we would drive through the most mountainous part of Greece.

Our first stop was the town of Kalavrita, Greece’s biggest ski village. Mid-June is definitely off season – many of the shops and restaurants were closed – but it was well worth the visit. 

Kalavrita is the terminus station of a tourist railway from Diakopto, 20 km to the north on the Gulf of Corinth.  It’s a special “rack”, or cog, railway that lets it climb very steep grades.

After lunch we continued driving on the main highway, towards the ski area.

There are very few accommodations at the mountain – most skiers stay in the town of Kalavrita – so traffic and parking are a big problem in winter. We saw some overhead photos taken on a sunny powder day.  The lots were full and cars were parking at the side of the road several kilometers from the base.  We shouldn’t complain too much about Whistler.

You can’t miss this statue on the way.   It would be interesting to listen in on debates about its removal.

The ski area is a fair distance from the main highway, so we opted to skip it and keep driving to our Airbnb near Loutra Elenis.

The entire drive was very scenic, and the wine region is lovely with a patchwork of small hillside vineyards and larger ones in the flat valleys.

The town of Nemea seemed pretty rural/industrial the first time through, on our way to the Airbnb near Loutra Eleni, which is on the coast, south of Corinth.

The Airbnb was a shared house, just a few minutes walk from a pretty nice beach.

We visited the beach a few times. The photos don’t do justice to how hot and humid it was.

The wine tour happened the following day. First stop was Barafakas, a highly rated winery in Nemea.

The wine and staff at Barafakas were lovely.

Next stop was Aivalis Winery. At first it seemed closed, and it wasn’t clear where the tasting room might be.

But after poking around and taking a few photos of the vineyard, we were greeted by a gentleman who turned out to be the winemaker, Christos Aivalis.

Part of the reason we couldn’t figure out where to go was that their new cellar and tasting room had just been constructed, had yet to be opened, and no landscaping had been done. Christos was kind enough to open it up to show us. It is beautiful!

Christos speaks no English, but between gestures, the odd common word, and Google Translate, we were able to communicate and have a pretty awesome time.

Here is Christos with his baby, the Armakas, a Bordeaux style red with some Agiorgitiko. We were shopping for a nice bottle for Denis and Paras, so we had asked for his best, and this was it.

We explained what it was for and I asked the price. He told me, and right away I said “deal” – no questions, no haggling. (And it turned out to be a decent deal.)

Christos continued to show us the new facility, which he is clearly, and rightly, proud of.

But after a while he started to frown a bit. A few gestures and glances at our phones and we knew why: he wanted Val and I to enjoy the Armakas by ourselves and he would sell us a less expensive bottle for our friends! We played along and purchased the second bottle – another red called Le Sang de la Pierre, which is primarily made from Agiorgitiko.

We continued the tour, checking out the storage and bottling area.

More frowns from Christos, and then he pried open a sealed case of Chardonnay.  He wanted us to have a bottle that would pair well with fish – free of charge!  Amazing.

If you are ever near Nemea, please visit Christos and his winery. You will not be disappointed.

After that we headed to town for what would turn out to be one of the nicest meals of the trip. Notice two things:  the town’s wine theme, and the lack of people. While it was mid-June, a few weeks before tourist season, the streets were empty mainly due to the heat. We felt like we were back in Singapore.

Lunch was at 17 Villages Wine Restaurant. The name refers to the area where they source their ingredients and wine from, and the food was spectacular.

After lunch the streets were still abandoned, probably due to the heat.

Our final stop in Nemea was the A. & G. Papaioannou Winery. This is the winery our bottle in Pylos came from.  It is located in an unassuming, industrial looking building on one of the main streets of town.

Again, it felt like it was closed, but we were eventually let in by the owner’s grandson, also named Thanasis, who is a university trained oenologist and in line to become the head winemaker.

Sorry to say we took no photos, so here is a link to check out.

The tasting area is….. unpretentious. There was a very long row of bottles, and Thanasis seemed happy to have us taste as many as we wanted, and he also seemed happy to speak about each one of them at length. We found him to be very thoughtful and a very good communicator. The wine was excellent and we really enjoyed the experience. Highly recommended.

After an evening swim and a good night’s sleep, we continued on our way back to Denis and Paras’ house in Porto Heli.

Along the way we stopped for lunch in Galatas, which is on the mainland near Poros. It was a nice lunch, and the scenery was great. 

And then we were on our way, again, to Porto Heli!