07/30/2025
We braved a blisteringly hot day to travel south along the coast of Thessaloniki to Epanomi where we stopped for a visit at the esteemed Gerovassiliou Estate (). Now an established winery, Gerovassiliou came from humble beginnings in the 1980s during a time when Greek wine's international reputation was either poor or non-existant in most drinkers' minds. Throughout the decades, these wines have come to represent Greece's winemaking quality and consistency and work hard to showcase the potential of native Greek varieties, such as Malagousia, a native white variety revived by the estate.
In the lovely tasting room overlooking an ocean of vines, we enjoyed tasting through a fun lineup of classic, focused, and polished wines from the estate. The group particularly loved the 2024 Malagousia, a refreshing orchard/melon/lemon-fruited respite from the day's heat, but all of the wines in the flight (which were matched with unique, inspired little pairing bites) showed just why it's not surprising that this estate is to be found as a "business card" for Greek wine all over Greece and the rest of the world.
The winery and estate itself are beautiful and state of the art, with a large, pristine facility surrounded by over 220 acres of vines currently being sustainably farmed on rolling hills that enjoy constant coastal breezes. They farm 11 varieties, but also have a vineyard plantation of dozens of rows of experimental varieties from all over Greece and beyond - something we loved exploring! Some of the interesting varieties on-site included Tannat, Koiniariko, Liatiko, Pamidi, Debina, Traminer, Riesling, and Moschomavro.
Finally, below the winery itself, is the Wine Museum which contained not only an incredible array of artifacts (some ancient) and tools from throughout the history of wine, but also what is easily the largest and most fun collection of corkscrews/wine openers in the world! We loved browsing the hundreds (thousands?) of examples of unique, clever, funny, and historical devices used to pull corks -- if you're in the area don't miss a visit here!
