Nemea : An Historical Wineland

by: Kourakou-Dragona, S.

The book comprises independent narrative texts of historical, mythological, folklore

and vinicultural interest, inspired by the long history of the ?wine capital? of the

Peloponnese, the district of Nemea.

It emerges from these texts that the district is an historical ?wineland?, an area

that has been producing renowned wine continuously from Antiquity and Byzantine

times to the present, regardless of whether Franks, Ottomans or Venetians occupied

the region in the Middle Ages.

The area is mentioned in the Homeric epics by the name of Arae¬thyrea and is

described as lovely; in historical times it is called Phliasia and produces the famed

Phliasian wine from the Phliasian vine; in the Middle Ages it takes the name Agios

Georgios and the Phliasian vine is renamed as Agiorgitiko grape, name by which it is

cultivated today in the winelands of Nemea, as the district has been known officially

since 1923.

Thanks to the high-quality wine produced from the Agiorgitiko variety, the

edaphoclimatic conditions of the area and its cultural heritage, in 1971 the toponym

Nemea was acknowledged as ?Appellation of Origin? for dry red wines made from the

indigenous variety of Agiorgitiko vine, adapted over the centuries in the winelands of

seventeen villages which make up the production zone for wines with ?Protected

Designation of Origin? NEMEA.

In the verdant vine-filled landscape of modern Nemea stand the nine columns of the

once splendid temple of Nemean Zeus of ancient Nemea, in whose honour the Nemean

Games were held. Archaeological site (sacred grove, stadium, museum) and modern

winelands, the two historical and economic mainstays of the area, in the high-tech

wineries of which one of the noblest products of Greek agriculture is produced.

Contents

Lovely Araethyrea and the Phliasia chora

Phliasian wine and the Nemean Games

Memories from the remote past

Herakleion – Archaia Nemea

The people of the Phliasia chora

Wine-loving Herakles and wine-serving

Hebe

Ancient Cleonae and the temple of

Herakles

Divine ?plant protection? at Phlious and

Cleonae

Agios Georgios, the Polyphengos of the

Middle Ages

In February prune, examine not the moon

The erstwhile Phliasia chora under foreign

domination

The Columns: Many admired them,

passersby. One fell in love with them and

stayed near them

Fhe wine of Agios Georgios in texts of

foreign travellers in the 19th century

Agiorgitiko wine in the 19th century

The wine of Nemea in the 20th century

The wine Appellation of Origin Nemea

The Agiorgitiko grape

Nemean Wine

Wine Protected Designation of Origin

Nemea

Nemea : An Historical Wineland

by: Kourakou-Dragona, S.

• ISBN-13: 9789606849282 / 978-960-6849-28-2
• ISBN-03: 9606849287 / 960-6849-28-7
• Foinikas Publications, Athens, 2012