Investing in the future of Greek grape varieties

By Yiouli Eptakili

As we drove along the winding road through olive groves, a small touring train full of foreign visitors reminded us that we were just 2 kilometers from the northwestern Peloponnesian port of Katakolo, where the cruise season had already started. Reaching the Mercouri Estate in Pyrgos, we were greeted by two Skyros ponies and Lara, a Saint Bernard looking for a belly rub. Beautiful peacocks roamed free around the estate.

?We started with one pair and now have around 40,? explained Vassilis Kanellakopoulos before going on to tell us about the history of the Mercouri Estate, possibly Greece?s first chateau, with a warning that we would have to go quite far back in time to meet the revolutionary young man, Thodoris Mercouris, with whom it all started.

?He was a hot-blooded youth. He couldn?t hold his tongue and often made disparaging remarks about King Otto in public. It was not long before he had to leave the country. So, in the mid-19th century, he left Epirus, crossed to Zakynthos and decided to head for Italy,? said Kanellakopoulos.

Mercouris worked at a few vineyards and then decided to become a seaman, until his ship ran into trouble during a storm somewhere near Malta. He survived the wreck and made his way to Egypt, where he became involved in the cotton trade and started making good money.

?When King Otto left Greece, Mercouris decided it was time to come back home.?

On his travels back in Greece, he came across the area of Korakochori in Pyrgos and purchased 60 hectares of land in 1864. The area produced raisins at the time, but Mercouris decided to plant Refosco, a red grape variety from northern Italy that he had learned to cultivate while there.

?Business was going well, the wine was...