Restoring a Sense of Pride

By Olga Antoniadou

Have you ever felt like jumping up and kissing someone who is giving a talk, because what that person is saying is so close to your heart? Well, I feel like that sometimes. I wish I had the guts to do it too! That is how I felt at the talk given by Mark Andrew MW at the Artisanal Wines of Greece Wine Fair in Athens a few days ago, the title of which was 'Small is beautiful – Why artisanal wineries are critical to the future of Greek wine'. This man is more Greek than the Greeks themselves. He spoke with such enthusiasm and passion about Greek wine and indigenous varieties, I could almost hear myself speak. I can't fit everything he said into this article but I will summarise his Ten Commandments and what he kept coming back to: patrimony, legacy, tradition, innovation based on what is already there. It was more than clear that he believes that the way forward for Greece is to highlight the diversity of the terroir, the diversity of the indigenous varieties, and that Greece will have to decide its identity in wine. Easy drinking, cheap, run of the mill, or authentic, characterful, different, based on our tradition? And, he somehow put it in the hands of the small wineries that it's up to them to make the difference.