Halkidiki (Chalkidiki) is a peninsula on the coast of north-eastern Greece, jutting southwards into the Aegean Sea from the city of Thessaloniki. A wide range of grape varieties call the 75-mile-long (120km) peninsula home, ranging from international grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc to native Greek varieties such as Limnio, Malagousia and Roditis.
The peninsula is shaped like a hand with three fingers that extend southward into the Aegean Sea: the smaller peninsulas of Kassandra, Sithonia and Mount Athos. The white, sandy beaches and close proximity to Thessaloniki have seen tourism become one of the region's most important sources of income, and much of the available land in Halkidiki is taken up to support it. However, viticulture can be found across all three of the peninsulas, as well as in the more-mainland areas just south of Thessaloniki.
Halkidiki has a classic Mediterranean climate, and long, hot summers with high levels of sunshine are typical on the peninsula. However, this is balanced by strong ocean influences from the Aegean Sea and the Gulf of Thermaikos, which contribute cool winds to the vineyards during the growing season. This is particularly true of viticultural sites located higher on the mountainsides, where a substantial diurnal temperature variation slows ripening, leading to the development of acidity along with varietal character.
Given the large size of the peninsula, it is perhaps not surprising that there is a lot of variation in soil types. Generally, the coastal vineyards are made up of free-draining sand and clay with calcareous sub-soils. These light soils starve the vines of water to an extent, lessening vigor and yield and leading to the production of small grapes with a high concentration of flavor. The resultant wines are richly flavored and well structured.
Wine has been made on the Halkidiki Peninsula since antiquity, as evidenced by mentions of regional wines in texts of the time. An outbreak of phylloxera in the early 20th Century decimated much of the vineyard land. Winemaking in the region was revived in the 1970s when famous Bordeaux wine consultant Émile Peynaud oversaw the planting of international grape varieties on the slopes of Mount Meliton, on the middle finger of the peninsula.
The only PDO-level appellation in Halkidiki is Playes Melitona (the Slopes of Meliton). This appellation was delimited in 1982 and was the first in Greece to allow international varieties in the blend. Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc can be used alongside Limnio in the red wines of the appellation, while the white wines are a blend of Athiri, Assyrtiko and Roditis. The more-generic Halkidiki and Sithonia regional appellations allow growers in the region to experiment with other grape varieties, and in particular Malagousia. Epanomi, on the western coast of the greater peninsula, is the site where Evangelos Gerovassiliou revived the virtually extinct Malagousia grape in the 1980s.
