📍 Samos

Samos is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea and the name of a protected designation of origin (PDO) for sweet Muscat wines. The main grape of the PDO is white Muscat, listed in the rules as Moschato Aspro. The name has been protected in Greece since 1970 and in the EU since 1981.

The rules of PDO Samos cover two categories, liqueur wine and wine from dried grapes, and four types: vin doux naturel, vin doux naturel Grand Cru from selected vineyards, vin doux and vin naturellement doux. The application for the designation was filed by the Union of Winemaking Cooperatives of Samos, founded in 1934.

Vines have been grown on Samos since before the first millennium BC; coins of the 5th century BC show amphorae and bunches of grapes. Muscat growing on the island is recorded from the 16th century, and from the mid-17th century Samos wine was one of its main trade goods. At the 1862 world exhibition in London Samos wines won medals. At first the sweet wines were made mainly from sun-dried grapes; in the 19th century wines with added alcohol appeared.

Part of the island outside the PDO zones belongs to the regional wine (PGI) Plagies Ampelou, “Slopes of Ampelos”: the communities of Palaiokastro, Kallithea, Marathokampos, Pythagoreio, Drakaioi, Neochori and Skouraiika. The vineyards there lie on slopes at 50–500 m, the nearby sea gives mild winters and cool summers, and dry white wine is made from the same white Muscat.

Why it matters to you. “Samos” on a label means sweet Muscat wine from the delimited zones of the island, and “Grand Cru” means wine from selected vineyards. “Plagies Ampelou” is the island's regional dry white wine.