V.Q.P.R.D.VAENI NAOUSSA

紅，幹酒製成的各種 Xinomavro，充分煙熏木桶歲橡木桶，它保留了香氣調味料，達姆森，香草和乾果

Firstly, they created an incentive for the preservation of traditional varieties. Despite the fact that, in some regions, qualified varieties were cultivated at the expense of significant, unqualified varieties, the stage was set for the development of a distinct, ethnic wine industry. The appellation laws guaranteed the continuation of a number of important traditional products.

Secondly, they strongly favored larger companies and local wineries and cooperatives already operating within these zones. Although certain producers have appeared to have more access to the governing body, the institution of the appellation laws at least fortified an economically vital segment of the industry and paved the way for continued modernization.

Thirdly, they provided a template for quality control compatible with the French model—a prerequisite to Greece’s membership in the EEC. Although EU membership creates serious constraints for the Greek wine industry, benefits, such as economic grants and access to EU markets, outweigh the drawbacks.

Lastly, they set (sometimes literally) high standards for the geographical location of vineyards. Vineyard elevation and orientation have dramatic effects on grapes. The standard for wine quality in the West is based on characteristics typical of climates more temperate than that of Greece. Chemical stability and suitability for aging are integral components of the aesthetic ideal to which both European and New World winemakers aspire. To create wines of sufficient alcohol and acidity that conform to this ideal, Greek growers must take advantage of abundant micro climates, many of them at higher elevations or with northern orientations. In this regard, the Greek appellation designations displayed good science.

It is doubtful that Greek appellations will be of much interest to American consumers. Even French appellations seem only to interest us when they coincide with our sense of taste, sense of value or thirst for celebrity. These days, Greek producers, like so many of their European brethren, are as likely to eschew designations they feel confine them as to submit to a definition of quality with which they don't agree or consider irrelevant or outside the scope of their ambitions, especially if an appellation has no direct economic advantage. Likewise, consumers will utilize their own criteria in determining which Greek wines are of the best quality. Some appellation-controlled wines will be valued and some will not. Not only is the definition of quality highly subjective and some appellation criteria therefore automatically suspect, wide variations in style are just as likely within qualifying zones as without. For all the work of learning a country's appellations and regions, one still depends on additional guidance. America is not known for this level of patience. Still, certain Greek appellations certainly live up to their promise. One would be hard pressed to find undrinkable Naousa, Nemea or Mantinia. Appellation wines at their best, in areas such as in Santorini, Peza, Rhodes, Goumenissa (and in many other zones), certainly owe part of their success to considerations formalized in the rules governing their manufacture. Certain appellations, especially Samos, are unassailable guarantors of high quality (even though the Samos appellation is not among Greece's highest).

Currently Greece has are four appellation designations:

O.P.A.P.
O.P.A.P. (Onomasía Proeléfseos Anotéras Piótitos) is equivalent to 'Appellation of Origin of Superior Quality' or the French 'V.L.Q.P.R.D.' There are currently 25 designations for this appellation, almost all of them for dry red and white wines. This list has been growing slowly since the inception of the laws—too slowly for a number of producers who feel justified in receiving qualification on the basis of the consistent production of wines of quality equal to or greater than those produced in some previously authorized regions. The wheels of justice, in Greece as everywhere else, turn slowly (and sometimes unjustly).

O.P.E
O.P.E (Onomasía Proeléfseos Eleghoméni) is equivalent to 'Controlled Appellation of Origin' or the French 'V.Q.P.R.D.' There are currently seven qualified regions or products, all of them for sweet wine (including Samos).

Reserve and Grande Reserve
Producers of OPAP and OPE wines have the option to use the term Reserve for white wines that are aged for two years (spending a minimum of 6 months in barrel and 6 months in bottle) and red wines that are aged for 3 years (same minimums). Grand reserve can be used for white wines that age for three years or more (spending a minimum of one year in barrel and one year in bottle) and red wines that are aged for 4 years (spending a minimum of two years in barrel and two years in bottle). Naturally, the white Reserve and Grand Reserve are almost exclusively the domain of producers of what we in America would call dessert wines.

Topikos Inos
Topikos Inos (Local wine) is the Greek equivalent to the French Vins de pays. There are currently 139 qualifying appellations. This middle ground provides the greatest relief for individual producers hoping to gain an appellation on the basis of more innovative, original or, in some cases, traditional combinations of cultivar and location. Labels are permitted the use of confidence-inspiring domaine names, including, Domaine or Estate (Ktima), Monastary (Monastiri) and Chateau (Archondiko) and Villa so long as the requirement of sufficient locality is met. The guidelines are less strict and proposals for new designations are always under consideration. [Due to the esoteric features of the place-names on this list, it has not been translated on this site. Readers wishing to receive a copy in Greek may contact us.] Within this category is a special designation, Appellation by Tradition, which includes Retsina and Verdea, and is designed to insure the quality and survival of distinct ethnic genres.

Epitrapezios Inos
Epitrapezios Inos (Table wine) is equivalent to the French Vin de Table. Not surprisingly, in Greece as in France and Italy, winemakers, frustrated by the limitations inherent in conforming to exisiting appellations, are increasingly opting out of the appellation game. Knowing full well that export markets tend to evaluate products on an individual basis, if not on the reputations and abilities of the winemakers themselves, many have chosen to simply opt out of the system. So many outstanding products began appearing as 'Table wine' during the last decade that for Americans deeply familiar with Greek wine, this designation has nearly become a mark of superior quality.

Kava
Producers of Table wine have the option to use the term Kava (rough translation: cellared, which in Greece is a qualititative association) for white wines that are aged for two years (spending a minimum of 6 months in barrel and 6 months in bottle) and for red wines that are aged for three years ( spending a minimum of 6 months in new oak or 1 year in old oak barrels and two 2 years in bottle).