Greek aged spirits, led by tsipouro, have made great strides in terms of quality, justifying in consumers’ heads that they can offer the same moments of pleasure as international well-established drinks.

Aged samples excel in international competitions and foreign markets, with their ten-year-old mediocre status being distant past.

Since we are going to talk mainly about tsipouro today, let’s explore it together: without many technical details, hee are the basic production steps:

Tsipouro is usually a distillation (by)product of the residue of grape vinification to produce wine. Winemakers, after pressing the grapes and taking the preliminary must for the wine, they can provide the distiller with the skins and the remaining must. This mash will ferment to produce alcohol. Alcoholic fermentation will therefore convert the sugars into a low alcohol product (usually 3% to 6%). Imagine it like making a “beer” from the original raw material.

Then this low alc grade product will be further distilled for the final product.

Alternatively to the above, and if the producers have in mind only the absolute quality, they will use the entire amount of must without producing wine from the precursor. The final product is called instead of tsipouro, grape distillate and is superior in quality, and of course quite a bit more expensive.

The aromatic elements of a wine come from the skins, therefore the subsequent aromatic intensity and complexity of tsipouro is strongly linked to the variety of the grape we used.

Now let’s talk about the main topic of today’s article... barrel aging!

So far the tsipouro has aromas of fruits and flowers (especially the popular muscat gives clear rose petal notes) and sometimes more “green” elements.

But what if we want to get a tsipouro that combines the best features of a Cognac or Whiskey or aged Grappa?

We transfer the tsipouro in oak barrels and let time do its magic!

The barrels are usually French oak, which give an elegant and fine effect, but also more rarely American oak that give a sweeter and more outgoing extroverted dimension.

What do I expect to find in the glass?

Aromas of honey, nuts, tobacco, herbs, candied citrus fruits, and many more, which have nothing to envy from top international products of similar style.

What do I pair it with?

If you choose an aged tsipouro, prefer next to it nuts, raisins and chocolate, or even a few slices of Greek bottarga from Messolonghi.

Two or three drops in a raw shell will take you to unprecedented experiences, while an after-meal cigar will make a great companion.

See our complete selection of aged Greek spirits here.

Metaxa: A special and unique Greek spirit

No it’s not cognac, and it’s not even brandy: it’s a category of its own! It’s simply Metaxa!

It is produced from sweet muscat wines of Samos, where alcohol of agricultural origin is added, as well as many secret aromatics and herbs. This product is then aged in large barrels for years in the cellars, while the art of blending (which gives the final touch) follows.

The stars on the label, state the time it has spent ageing.

Legend says, that it is probably the only spirit in the world that can be aged in the bottle, due to the sweet wine it contains, and the writer himself can confirm this, as he once stood in front of an old forgotten 5-star bottle (over 20 years) and the content was wonderfully sophisticated and more complex!

A spirit of unsurpassed quality, whose most premium versions are worth trying here.

Cheers!

Stavros Moustakas Oktapodas DipWSET

About the Editor:

Stavros Moustakas-Oktapodas DipWSET has worked as a wine consultant for a large Greek import company and in addition, in strategic and communication positions for Greek wineries.

He holds the WSET Diploma, which he completed with honors, with two international scholarships (best overall performance and best performance in the blind taste exams for the academic years 2016 and 2017).

He has been a judge at the Thessaloniki International Wine Competition, the largest European competition Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, and he is Oinochoos magazine columnist.