This month started with two things: an obsession with Greek islands and re-watching the trailer for the new Odyssey film. That light — sea-blue, stone-white, vine-green — and we thought, right, that's August sorted. Let's go Greek.
So we went island-hopping without leaving Dublin. Four stops, four families who know their corner of Greece intimately.
We start in Crete, twice. First high up in Rethymno, in the mountain village of Melambes, with Iliana Malihin — tiny production, old terraces, real mountain wine energy. Then down to Kato Asites on the foothills of Mount Psiloritis, just outside Heraklion, to Zacharias Diamantakis and his family estate. Two very different sides of the same island.
Then we head north, to Naoussa in Macedonia, on the slopes of Mount Vermio, to meet Kostis Dalamara — sixth-generation, organic and biodynamic, farming just six hectares of Xinomavro where his family helped create Greece's first appellation.
And we finish in Keratea in eastern Attica, surrounded by sea, with the Mylonas family, who have been farming there since 1917.
Four places, four families. Very Greek, very August.
Sophie Robson, August, 2026
Lefkos Vidiano/ Thrapsithiri, Iliana Malihin, 2025
- Producer: Iliana Malihin
- Vintage: 2025
- Alcohol: 13.5%
- Drink: 12*
- Price: €31
- Region: Crete
- Grapes: Vidiano, Thrapsathiri
- Drink at: DeDe Custom House, Baltimore, Ba’De Baltimore, Woodruff Stepaside, Sea Shanty, Blackrock.
Lefkós is the crush you meet on holiday who actually changes your life.
This is Iliana Malihin's doing - young, brilliant, and on a proper crusade. She set up in the mountain village of Melambes in 2019 to bring back ancient Vidiano, hunting down ungrafted, pre-phylloxera vines that are 90, 100, 140+ years old - vines the locals quietly preserved for generations. She now works with 37 growers, farming organically, increasingly biodynamically, by hand and by horse, on clay and schist between 560-900m where it's baking hot by day and freezing by night. That's how you keep the freshness in Crete.
Lefkós itself is a field blend of Vidiano for that ripe, peachy, apricot richness and texture, and Thrapsathiri for the herbal, botanical lift. In the cellar Iliana does almost nothing, on purpose - indigenous yeasts, 20°C fermentation in stainless steel, 8 months on lees for volume and complexity, no fining, no filtration, minimal sulphur. Pure soil-to-glass.
In the glass it's broad and lively - ripe peach, apricot, citrus, a little flint and smoky reduction, herbs, and then that tangy, mouth-watering finish that makes you reach straight back for the glass. It's natural wine with actual composure. Mineral, textured, and deeply drinkable.
Slightly chilled with grilled sea bream or sea bass, lemon-garlic prawns, soft goat cheese, or a proper Cretan salad with tomato, feta and olives. Equally good with scallops in butter if you're feeling fancy. Gorgeous now, but will happily sit for a few years if you can resist.
Diamantopetra, Iamantikis, 2020
- Producer: Iamantikis
- Vintage: 2020
- Alcohol: 13%
- Drink: 14*
- Price: €26
- Region: Crete
- Grapes: Syrah, Mandilari
- Drink at: Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud's
Some blends shouldn't work on paper and then become completely addictive in real life. Enter Diamantopetra.
This is Zacharias Diamantakis's signature red from his family estate in Kato Asites, tucked on terraced slopes at 400-700m on the foothills of Mount Psiloritis, just outside Heraklion. The family has been growing vines here forever, but the winery itself started in 2007 — limestone-rich soils, sea breezes rolling in, dry summers, mild humid winters, everything farmed sustainably and done by hand to let Crete speak.
The blend is 70% Syrah, the cosmopolitan who fell in love with Crete and decided to stay, and 30% Mandilari, the wild, tannic, properly Cretan native who keeps things interesting. They are vinified separately — temperature-controlled to keep all that fresh fruit — then married off for 12 months in French and American oak to smooth the edges and build structure. Zacharias is meticulous about it, checking every step so you get finesse, not just muscle. Which is why people keep coming back for it vintage after vintage.
In the glass it's deep ruby and unapologetically heady — ripe cherry, sour cherry, plum, blackberry, then violet, chocolate, cinnamon, liquorice and a flick of red pepper and spice. On the palate it's got that Syrah richness tamed by Mandilari's rustic tannins, rounded but with lively acidity that keeps it fresh.
This is a Sunday roast, big-lamb-energy wine. Think grilled or roasted red meats, rich sauces, Cretan antikristo lamb over the fire, or well-aged yellow cheeses. Serve it at 14-16°C, give it a little air. It's gorgeous now and will happily sit for 5-7 years if you can keep your hands off it.
One of those Cretan classics that proves why it became a signature — it just works.
Naoussa, Dalamára, 2023
- Producer: Dalamára
- Vintage: 2023
- Alcohol: 13.5%
- Drink: 14*
- Price: €36
- Region: Naoussa, Macedonia
- Grapes: Xinomavro
- Drink at: Woodruff Stepaside.
If Xinomavro is Greece's answer to Nebbiolo, then Dalamara is the family that's been answering that question for almost two centuries.
We're in historic Naoussa, on the slopes of Mount Vermio — Greece's first ever appellation back in 1971, thanks in no small part to the Dalamara family. Now it's sixth-generation Kostis Dalamara at the helm with his wife Maria, farming just 6ha of Xinomavro at 250-350m. Kostis did the Burgundy pilgrimage — studied in Beaune, worked at Domaine Trapet in Gevrey-Chambertin, Clos du Rouge Gorge in Roussillon — then came home in 2010 and went full beacon-of-self-sufficiency: biodynamic since 2008, making his own fertiliser on the farm, running the winery on solar.
Everything here is about capturing terroir and then getting out of the way. Organically and biodynamically farmed, hand-harvested whole bunches from a single vineyard, gentle pressing, spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts, no filtering, low sulphites, 12 months in oak. That's it.
And what you get is exactly why people compare Xinomavro to Nebbiolo and Pinot Noir in the same breath — medium to full-bodied, firm but silky, ripe tannins, that bright, lip-smacking acidity that gives it lift. On the nose it's all sun-dried tomato, sour cherry, cranberry, wild strawberry and raspberry, then it gets savoury — black olive tapenade, dried herbs, that herby garrigue thing — and as it opens, rose petals, tobacco, leather, earthy spice. Red cherry and wild strawberry on the palate, elegant but structured.
It's one of the best introductions to Greece's most noble red grape because it's vibrant and approachable now, but built to age — Dalamara's single-site wines can go for decades, and from that tiny block of pre-phylloxera vines planted in the 1920s that Yiannis Karakasis MW calls Naoussa's Grand Cru, Kostis makes just a few hundred bottles of Vieilles Vignes in the finest vintages.
This is your dinner party flex. The bottle for when you want to say "I know Nebbiolo, but have you tried Xinomavro?" — decant it, drink it with anything that loves acidity and tannin, and watch it get better in the glass.
Naked Truth, Mylonas Winery, 2025
- Producer: Mylonas Winery
- Vintage: 2025
- Alcohol: 12%
- Drink: 12*
- Price: €26
- Region:Attica
- Grapes: Savatiano
- Drink at: kicky’s, Dublin.
Savatiano has had a bit of a glow-up, and this is the bottle doing it.
Mylonas is a family estate in Keratea, eastern Attica — winemaking roots back to 1917 when Antonis Mylonas was fermenting in amphorae because stainless steel wasn't even a thing yet. Now it's third-generation Stamatis farming 12ha at 80-350m, limestone and schist and gravel, sea all around, Aegean breezes keeping things fresh. This particular wine is from a single vineyard of 55+ year old bush vines — goblet-trained, organic, 3,300 vines per hectare, tiny yields at 30hl/ha, 8,000 bottles total. Hand-harvested in small crates in August, straight into the winery at 8°C.
The 'Naked Truth' bit is exactly what it sounds like — no holds barred, natural, indigenous yeasts, 15-20 days on skins in stainless steel at 18°C, then 5 months on lees with bâtonnage for 12 weeks. Unfiltered, minimal intervention, deep yellow / bright gold in the glass.
And it smells like a siren — greengage, white peach, apricot, dried apricot and orange peel, herbal tea, floral, earthy, a little nutty. Palate is bone dry, full-bodied but beautifully clean, wonderfully balanced by that lively acidity, textured with gentle skin-contact tannin, layers of complexity and a finish that just keeps going. Serious poise. The kind of world-class white that could give White Burgundy or Northern Rhône a run for its money.
Serve cool, not iced — 12°C in a medium glass. It's your mezze wine: legume salads, green salads, goat cheese, stuffed courgette flowers, pork meatballs with mint and oregano, lamb shank with bay leaf, buttered sea bass, grilled veg and roast poultry Basically, if it's got herbs and olive oil on it, you're sorted.