A 1982 Domaine De La Romanee-Conti Richebourg is what started Angie Giannakodakis’ journey with wine. Her wine mentor, Athens-based sommelier Maria Katsouli, handed her a glass and said “taste this”. From the second she smelt the wine, tasted the flavours, she knew there and then she was going to be a sommelier.
It was the ’90s, and the Greek Australian was in Greece working her way up the ranks as one of the top sommeliers in the Hellenic Republic; after all, she was mentored by the top one and two in Athens. But when she arrived back in Australia, things had changed dramatically in the 12 years she’d lived and worked in Greece.
Firstly, she noticed a new energy in the hospitality industry, a rejuvenation she was unaware of – a whole new playground, a whole new world. And even though she arrived in Australia as one of Greece’s top wine connoisseurs, had the accolades, she had to start her career from scratch. It was at Grossi Florentino’s where she cut her teeth in Melbourne’s hospitality industry. After a year and a half, she worked her way up to sommelier but she had a lot to catch up on, especially Australian wines. But as she learnt more about Australian wines, and worked in high end restaurants at the time that featured Italian, French and Spanish wines as a norm, something inside her shifted – ‘why aren’t there any Greek wines on the wine list?’.
“I had this thirst, like a pono; this bittersweet feeling of why can’t Greeks be known here in Australia for their wine, their food, their culture, their pride – all the intricate parts that make us,”Angie tells Neos Kosmos. She says it’s not about souvlaki, taramosalata, retsina – it’s deeper than that.
“No one talks about Odysseas Elytis, Solomos, or the fact we went through WWII, a civil war and junta within two to three decades and still survived – and still surviving now. So for me it was where do I position myself here so one day I can promote my own culture and be known for what I am.” Her mission – as she says ever so simply – was to put Greek wines on the map.
It started with a phone call to George Calombaris who was then making waves at The Press Club. The conversation was simple. She told him her background, her mission and he accepted.
“That was the turning point,” she says, “I realised I had a place to voice my opinion, express myself and get through to Greek Australians to say ‘what you’ve been doing for the last couple of years is bullsh*t – you want to be Greek then let’s go!’
“Every time I did a wine list, I would put a Greek wine in,” she explains. “It would always be a wild indigenous varietal of Greece, one that spoke of the region.” With Greek wines, Angie says you can smell and taste the aromas and the flavours of Greece in every glass. From the fisherman’s net, the woman making dolmathes, the earth from where they are milking the goat – all come through with every sip.
The whole point of the wine list at The Press Club was to promote wild indigenous varietals of Greece. Some of the wines she wanted to stock she couldn’t due to storage, but she found a way to list 10-15 Greek wines and promote them – by the glass and by the bottle. Initially, she says, there was a lot of laughter and snigger, but she persisted. And succeeded.
“Now I look at it and it’s like second nature – everyone’s talking about assyrtiko and they say it’s a great wine and I think of course it is, it’s been here for 3,500 years!
“If the Santorinians were giving wine to France during the filoxero then obviously it must be okay. And if they can’t have Sauternes, then why are they buying wine from Samos? If the rest of the world is drinking Greek wine, then why can’t we? It’s about making people understand there is nurturing and history behind Greek wine.”
Greek wine lends itself to very clean flavours so it doesn’t need to be served with rich food. There are over 3,000 wild indigenous varietals of Greek wine, yet only a dozen are commonly known. But with Angie in Australia advocating for Greek wine, it won’t be long before the consumption of Greek wines in restaurants all over Australia will happen.
“I am at the point I have disciples, so whether it’s me or people under me or linear to me – they too have a passion to promote Greek wine – and it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to have good Greek wine.”
When asked what her favourite Greek wine is, she answers easily: xinomavro.
“That’s the one that is alluring; it’s a little bit more sensitive, it comes from the north part of Greece, from Naousa.
“The wine that they make there is smoky, tomatoey – it reminds me of my dad watering his tomato plants in the morning and he used to smoke Dunhill reds. And once you include age to those wines, it goes off the charts.”
For the past year and a half, Angie has been at the helm of Epocha, along with business partner Guy Holder. The name itself is a take on the word ‘epochi’, a period in time, a time to shine – hers and our time to shine.
“We wanted
a place you could call home, where you get great service, food and get looked after without the big banquets, it’s delicate food and we aim to please, and the wine list is great, everything is European here,” she says. The restaurant itself feels like you are walking into someone’s home, with remnants of Greekness such as the taverna style chairs, and the backgammon boards on the tables, the mati by the stairs, combined with a European elegance and aromas of French cheese. The menu is classic European – simple flavours executed well. And there are Greek inspired dishes such as beautifully seared fish with horta.
But now, she’s already thinking of her next venture. With Greek wines becoming part of wine appreciators vernacular and cellars, her next mission is to promote good quality regional eateries, starting with her latest venture – opening up a Cretan cuisine restaurant. With her Cretan roots, and colleagues who are of Cretan background, it was written that this would be the region she’d start with to revolutionise Greek cuisine in not only Melbourne, but Australia.
Her menu, she says, won’t be made easy for the consumer – it will be Cretan and Cretan food only… all the way. No horiatiki on this menu, only Cretan salads. Snails the way they are served in Crete.
“Imagine putting staka on a plate here, or apaki?” she says passionately. “There are so many good ancient Cretan foods that we don’t see here because we are playing it safe. It’s time now to do that.”
She says there is a momentum around Greek cuisine at the moment, and all restaurateurs need to unite, and Greek Australians alike, to steer away from the food that we’ve been serving up, and start veering towards traditional regional foods, that we may eat at home – the way we eat in Greece. That is what needs to be seen and enjoyed by the masses. So they understand once and for all that Greek food is more than dips and saganaki. The stir has begun, she says, around the credit that was given to Calombaris’ latest ventures, and he’s often touted as bringing Greek food out of the dark ages, but even though she applauds him for giving Greek food a common face, there have been restaurants and restaurateurs who have existed beforehand and continue to do so – the unsung heroes of Greek cuisine.
Now, she says, is the time to capitalise on the hype of Greek food. She says Greek restaurateurs should veer away from souva joints – although she’s the first to admit they do have their place – but begin to open little regional restaurants, with courage and pride.
“They shouldn’t fear opening up something that is part of their culture; making their stamp. And if this happens we have a better chance because united [the Greeks] are a force to be reckoned with.”
And that’s her purpose, her mission in life.
“We have this beautiful language that no one knows how to speak in Australia, and we have this rich culture and history that no one knows anything about. It would be really nice to be proud of your heritage. To feel ‘I’m Greek, therefore I am a Hellene. I can speak a beautiful language, I read, I assess, I philosophise, I see things in a different light, I live and life is the most precious gift given to me and I know how to use it because I am Greek’.”
“I want to believe that one day we get to honour our ancestry by being united and free – I guess this is my Epocha.”