‘It is the wine that leads me on,
the wild wine that sets the wisest man to sing at the top of his lungs,
laugh like a fool
it drives the man to dancing...
it even tempts him to blurt out stories better never told.
The Odyssey
Greece almost automatically evokes associations with delicious salads, fresh fish, and juicy and fragrant grilled octopus. However, the magic cannot be complete without a bottle of classy wine!
Did you know that on the island of Lefkada, there is a grape variety of the same name and three wineries? And that in Kefalonia there is one of the oldest varieties on the Balkan Peninsula? According to Greek mythology, Dionysus, the ancient Greek god of merriment, blessed the island of Naxos with fertility. Furthermore, he taught the island inhabitants of Samos - the Samians - the cultivation of grapevines. Dionysus gave them the vine that makes the famous fragrant wine and taught them all the secrets of how to prepare it.
When we talk about winemaking in Greece, we must mention the fact that wine in these lands has existed for over 4000 years. The diverse climatic conditions in the different wine regions create an exceptional wealth of grape varieties. The greater area’s climate and soil conditions have forged the perfect winegrowing environment that has been taking winemaking to ever-increasing heights.
Greece is divided into five main wine regions: Northern Greece (Thrace, Macedonia, and Epirus), Central Greece, and Attica, the Peloponnese and the Ionian Islands, Crete, and the Aegean Islands.
