A Retsina Revival Plan
There’s a quick way to go broke in Greece, and I don’t mean letting an octopus swallow your wallet. It’s cocktails. Johnny Walker and Jim Beam only travel first class; mojitos and Blue Angels, strictly deluxe. So what’s a thirsty traveler to do? Drink Greek. It’s a lot easier than speaking it and you’ll make new friends even faster. Greek beer and brandy can be inexpensive and delicious, and wine is the best bet of all.
Greece is a wine drinker’s paradise thanks to eons of experience, perfect growing conditions, and the blessing of Bacchus, an ancient fun loving god whose only job is to lead you astray. Every region has its native grapes – the agiorgitiko, the robola, the savatiano, and its characteristic wines – the medium-bodied, fruity Nemea reds of the Peloponnese, the gentle, elegant Roditis whites from Patras, the sweet, luscious muscats from Samos.
Local wines can often be bought in bulk cheaply at small grocery stores. Bottled wines come in every price range; there are decent reds and whites for six euros, good ones for nine, and excellent ones for much less than you’d pay in the U.S. or most other European countries. If you dislike a wine you’ve ordered in a taverna, they’ll usually replace it, knowing you don’t know your agiorgitiko from your assyrtiko.
A great Greek white that costs peanuts is retsina, a simple white to which a little pine resin has been added. Retsina has been given a bad rap, starting about 500 B.C. when some picky Athenians turned up their Grecian noses at the scent and taste of pine resin. As far back as 2500 years ago, pine plugs were used to seal amphorae as wine was shipped throughout the Empire. People got to liking the piney flavor, then they noticed it kept them from getting headaches or hangovers in hot weather (this is history I’m quoting, from the people who invented it.) Some foreigners think you’re kidding when you order retsina. Others love it. I’m in the lovers camp and I was born near Napa Valley which may be proof of reincarnation.
In Café Tempest: Adventures on a Small Greek Island, my sassy heroine Sarah has a love-hate relationship with retsina. She drinks it whenever she can and claims it can start your motor bike, remove your nail polish, and cure you of thought. I’d been thinking of ways to promote my new novel, when a friend and I came up with the idea of inventing a cocktail based on retsina, the most distinctive and debated wine in all of Greece. We call it the Tempestini –the world’ first retsina cocktail– and the recipe is now featured on the official Café Tempest website. Improbably delicious!
If you’re game to try the Tempestini, the world’s first retsina cocktail, mix one up. It’s improbably fabulous. I co-invented it to disprove the rude things (not fair!) I say about retsina in my book. The recipe is at www.cafetempest.com.
Where to Try a Tempestini:
Kellari Parea Bistro
36 East 20th Street
New York, NY
212-777-8448