Greek Winemakers Visit North America to Promote Greek Wines

Greek winemakers decided to visit North America to promote their wines. Stelios Boutaris, whose family owns the Kir-Yianni winery, said from New York that he does not believe anything worse could happen to Greece. Besides, he has always been a person who sees “the glass half-full.”

While Greece heads for new elections on June 17, all these successful winemakers leave their problems behind and travel abroad. The Greek winemakers in New York ranged from big companies to small shops but they were united.

“The political situation is not stable right now, but I believe in the next election (on June 17) that we will have a much more stable government,” commented Angelos Iatridis, who studied at the University of Bordeaux and worked in France and Spain before buying his own vineyard, Alpha Estate.

“There is no credit. That is why we work very hard going around to promote our wines,” he added, continuing that they have also visited Denver, Chicago, Montreal and Toronto. Next month, they plan to visit Australia as part of their New Wines of Greece promotional tour.

Another winemaker, Panagiotis Papagianopoulos, who own the small Tetramythos vineyard close to the Gulf of Corinth, reflected back in time. “We have seen much worse things in the past four or five decades,” he said. “But I believe politicians will come to their senses and this will all be resolved. We are not just Greeks, we are Europeans,” he concluded.

(Source: Chicago Tribune)