Nemea
Mediterranean, tempered by altitude
The Peloponnese valley of Agiorgitiko, one of Greece's most important red grapes, from the site of the ancient Nemean Games.
Overview
About Nemea
Nemea is a valley in the north-eastern Peloponnese, near ancient Corinth, and the home of Agiorgitiko, or St George's grape. Its protected designation of origin, established in 1971, covers around 3,000 hectares planted almost entirely to that one variety. Nemea was the site of the ancient Nemean Games and, in myth, of Heracles' fight with the Nemean lion, and the local wine is sometimes called the blood of Heracles.
Agiorgitiko is unusually versatile. Grown on the valley floor it gives soft, fruity reds, while from the high vineyards it makes more structured, age-worthy wines, and it is also used for rosé and, in some cases, for sweet wine. The vineyards climb from around 250 to over 800 metres, and altitude is the main factor in the style of the wine.
Nemea is marked on the map.
Greece
Shaded: Peloponnisos. Map units are states, provinces or départements, so a smaller place appears as the larger area that contains it.
The land
Climate & terroir
Climate
Mediterranean, tempered by altitude
Hot, dry summers on the valley floor and much cooler conditions at altitude, where the growing season is later and the wines fresher. Rain falls mostly in winter.
Terroir & soils
What the vines grow in
Clay, limestone and marl, with some sandy soils on the valley floor. The higher vineyards are on steeper, stonier, limestone-rich slopes.
Go deeper
Rules, years & producers
Nemea is a protected designation of origin for Agiorgitiko alone, with altitude bands that shape the style.
Nemea PDO
Red wine, dry or sweet, from Agiorgitiko only.
Altitude zones
Low, medium and high vineyards, from soft, fruity wines to structured, age-worthy ones.
What's grown here
Grapes
Each grape's page links back here.