Great Greek Wines: ”A Little Mariner” in London

By Yiannis Karakasis MW

Greek Nobel Prize winner Odysseas Elytis writes in The Little Mariner that “ideas are like ghosts”. They are all around us, yet difficult to catch. That is more or less how I think about Great Greek Wines. The idea was there, somewhere around us, until we decided to act on it in 2020.

It was the middle of the pandemic, and many people had reservations about the initiative. “Don’t do it, Yiannis. Perhaps wait for a better moment.” At the time, I could not have imagined that six years later GGW would have become a sound and, I believe, useful institution for Greek wine.

“Come on, it’s just another competition.”

I've heard that several times. Sorry, but that's not the case. We've explained the differences many times, and those who know me understand how much I dislike repeating myself. So I'll focus on just two—perhaps the most important ones.

The first is independence: GGW is a private initiative. It isn’t affiliated with any trade body, association, public organisation, or producers’ group. Winery entries, our sponsors, and, above all, a great deal of personal effort support it. We plan, fund, and manage everything ourselves.

The second difference concerns what happens after the awards. For us, the blind tasting, which we call the competition element of GGW and which is followed by the announcement of the List, is not the end of the process. That is where the hard work begins. We take the wines abroad to introduce them to buyers, sommeliers, importers, and journalists. We create new opportunities by building meaningful connections for the producers.

Over the past six years, we’ve reached more than 15 countries through walk-around tastings, masterclasses, and collaborations aiming to present Greek wine to the right people.

[caption id="attachment_27946" align="aligncenter" width="1500"] GGW X IMW Symposium in Wiesbaden[/caption]

We take our work very seriously, but not ourselves. We don’t believe we have a monopoly on good ideas, and we welcome any serious initiative that helps Greek wine move forward. I genuinely believe there is room for every good original idea.