On Monday, April 11, 2022 at the famous restaurant of Metaxourgio aleria was a special dinner, a "Blind date", From the Union "Winemakers of Northern Greece".

Representatives of the media, wine and gastronomy were invited by the Stelio Boutari, President of the Union. At dinner we tried a series of flights and delicious matches, between PDO / PGI wines and chef creations Gika Xenaki.

The presentation was undertaken by Andreas Matthidis Dip WSET, president of the Panhellenic Association of Winemakers, while with him at the entrance of the ultra-elegant neoclassical building of the restaurant, the guests were welcomed by Alexandra Anthidou, Head of Communication and Marketing of the Association of Winemakers of Northern Greece.

The passage through folk gastronomy, as I lived it and recorded it a while ago with  "The pastes of Paros" - and their accompaniment with the Parian suma -, and the response from an event  of high gastronomy and the taste of its diamonds Northern Helladic vineyard, although it may raise some questions as to their relevance and relevance, in my opinion it has one thing in common. Both events are elements of it Greek gastronomic identity but on a different level. Because the interest in a national gastronomy lies in having at all its levels (local PDO and PGI products, wines, beers and alcoholic beverages, street food, confort cuisine, traditional cuisine, folk cuisine, creative cuisine, fine dining, haute cuisine ) quality and characteristic representatives. Because as he has stated George Skouras, a greatest representative of Greek wine, “the gastronomy of a place must be like a train, where all its wagons travel at the same speed, the locomotive, the wagonlit, the first class wagons and the simple, the container wagons etc ”.

 

Winemakers of Northern Greece (Macedonia-Thrace-Epirus)

Stelios Boutaris, its president Association of Winemakers of Northern Greece in the introduction of the event spoke about the work of the Union, which consists of the pioneering winemakers of Northern Greece and aims to promote its modern image branded Greek quality wine, based on indigenous and international wine varieties, the development of viticulture and winemaking, as well as the dissemination of wine culture to the general public.

He then stressed that the Association "Winemakers of Northern Greece" and individual members, annually create a number of activities with wine tasting events, exhibitions and thematic tastings, training seminars, wine tourism proposals and much more. In the context of these events, the "Blind date" to inform the journalists of taste, about the latest wine creations of the members of the association but also the marriage of fine wines with the creative Greek cuisine. Finally, Stelios Boutaris spoke about their conversion "Wines of Northern Greece" into a "Winemakers of Northern Greece" to emphasize the winemakers, and the key phrase following the Union brand name,  "Here the top ones create".  Because indeed Northern Greece has to show the majority of important producers of Greek winemaking and wineries with a wide range and prestige such as Boutaris Winery, Kyr-Giannis Estate, Alpha Estate, Karra Estate, Tsantalis, Gerovasiliou Estate, Lazaridis Estate, Pavlidis Estate, Glinavos Estate etc.

Ritual

The organization of the "Blind Date" ritual was organized by Andreas Matthidis who handed over to the chef Gika Xenakis the wine sections he wanted to present, and based on these the chef would have to create the appropriate menu dishes that would accompany them. Thus, sparkling wines with the title were presented as sections In the foam, then the Sauvignon blanc with title SB, then the orange wines entitled Code Orange. The next section All colors for red mullet it worked the other way around because the dish was a given and the best accompanying wines had to be selected, one of which was red and in fact contrary to the prevailing perceptions many attendees preferred it! Or I go with them. In the lamb there was the possibility to combine it with 4 red wines and there was unity as a theme Cross Pairing with Greek and International varieties, and finally in the sweets the section was named Ode to the Gewurztraminer.

The guests per 8 people were sitting on rotundas and per section of the menu their winemakers served the respective wines, which were covered so that their labels could not be seen.

The taste tests and the tasting

"The blind date" was a multi-level game. Each guest had to understand the varieties of wine offered in a covered bottle, so as not to show his label, his producer, to enjoy his unique creations Gika Xenaki one after the other exploded on his palate, to find the best combination of wine with the proposed dish, and then to exchange opinions with his table attendants, or even to bet on the identity of the wines and the quality of the flavors . A "great torment" the multiple pleasures!

The following is the sequence of sections of the menu of dishes and wines, because as a process it was of particular interest and could be a shining example for the creation of similar events.

 

In the foam

Food: Amuse bouche, chickpea cracker with goat cheese and apricot, shrimp saganaki on toast

Wines: Sparkling wines

White dry PDO Zitsa (Debina - Cooperative)

Dried pink PDO (Amynteo Akakies - Kyr Giannis)

 

SB

Food: White asparagus with goat cheese from Evia, Grapefruit and fennel oil.

Wines: Tank - Barrel - Blend

Dry white wine PGI Florina (Sauvignon blanc - Alpha estate)

Dry white wine PGI Macedonia (Florial)

Dry white wine PGI Drama (Art of Sorrow)

 

"Orange" Code

Food: King Oyster with hazelnuts, quince and louiza

Wines: Orange white dry wines

PDO Zitsa (Debina Respect),

PGI Velventos (Malagouzia Kamkoutis),

PGI Imathia (Xinomavro - Taralas)

 

All colors for red mullet

Food: The red mullet with celery root, raisins and rosemary (references to the Corfiot)

Wines: The colours

Dry white wine PGI Halkidiki (Assyrtiko Livaditis)

Dry rosé wine PGI Imathia (Dianthos)

Dry red wine PDO slopes Melitona (Limnio Porto Carras)

 

Cross Pairing with Greek and International varieties

Food: Lamb with topinambur, wild mushrooms and onion

Wines: Red flight

Dry red wine PGI Ioannina (Vlach, Averof estate)

Dry red wine PDO Naoussa (xinomavro, Grand Reserve Boutari)

Dry red wine PGI Drama (Tempranillo - Pavlidis estate)

Dry wine PGI Krania (cabernet sauvignon, merlot - Katsaros Estate)

 

Ode to the Gewurztraminer

Food: White chocolate with rose, pear and lychee

Wines: Sweet white wine

PGI Paggaio Kavala

PGI Florina

PGI Florina

 

"Blind Date": Impressions and conclusions

At the end of the wine tasting, the producers' wines were placed in a buffet, as a tribute to the great taste joy they reserved for us, but it has not been revealed which wine was in which phase of the tasting. Each of us would solve her questions on his own.

Alexandra Anthidou presented to the guests the creator of the unique dishes chef Gika Xenaki.

The guests showed their absolute satisfaction for the perfect organization - like Meropi Papadopoulou, his "big lady" Oinochou- to Nikiforos Kechadiadakis owner of Aleria.

Finally, congratulations for this innovative event were received by President Stelios Boutaris, because in addition to being very successful, it was also an important opportunity -after the two years of the pandemic- to reunite the journalists of the industry and to be informed about the progress that do the Winemakers of Northern Greece and in turn to inform the many friends of quality Greek Wine.