We are in the tiny PDO of Rapsani, about a 90-minute drive south of Thessaloniki, towards Athens. I am visiting Apostolos Thymiopoulos. He’s one of a new generation of wine people in Greece who are driving a step change in the country’s wines – and in their international reputation. He’s a native of Naoussa, located about half an hour away (hence the hectic driving to and fro). His family home in Trilofos is close to Aristotle’s school in Mieza, where the philosopher is said to have taught Alexander the Great.
High praise
His rise to international recognition has been as fast as his driving, yet it may have felt as if he were pushing water uphill. He was the first in the family to bottle wine. He was using the local variety Xinomavro, hardly known outside Greece, and from a region few could (and many still can’t) place on the map. Furthermore, quality Greek wine had a low profile in export markets, the main exceptions being prestige red wines made from international varieties.
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