Braving Melbourne’s late-winter, early-spring cold, and rain, for a few gulps of fine wine hardly felt like a chore, especially when the glasses were filled with some of Greece’s best drops. At Psarakos Market in Thornbury on Saturday, Ross Karavis hosted a Lazaridis wine-tasting event, where he declared Greek wines are now making their mark in both the middle-range and premium markets.
“We’re starting to see specialist wine publications like Decanter, Wine Enthusiast and Wine Spectator writing and promoting Greek wines,” Karavis told Neos Kosmos.
Karavis said that in the UK, some of the best quality Greek wines have even reached major supermarket chains such as Sainsbury’s, “who are working with Greek wine importers and promoters to assist with tastings.”
Saturday’s Lazaridis event was part of an EU and Greek government program, Karavis explained — a three-year funding initiative “to promote free agricultural products in other countries.”
“We’re starting to see specialist wine publications like Decanter, Wine Enthusiast and Wine Spectator writing and promoting Greek wines,” Ross Karavis
“This is part of a broader program being funded through North America, Australia, and Uzbekistan.”
Why Uzbekistan? A natural question. “It’s a significant market which has opened to Greek wines,” Karavis said.
The Diaspora in North America and Australia are natural market and conduit for the rise of new Greek wines. The EU and Greek governments are committing funds to help support these efforts. The Greek wine industry now directs a substantial share of its quality wines to export markets including Australia, the US, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, and Cyprus.
Karavis said there is “a movement, it’s to build greater understanding and desire for Greek wines, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
He gave the example of a trade dinner on Tuesday night, “While there were two Greek restaurants in attendance, the rest of the people who were there were from hospitality, from a range of venues, and wine bars, and bottle shops all coming in because they are picking up on the interesting Greek wine and that the quality of Greek wine is way beyond what they had anticipated earlier.”
It’s not just Nico Lazaridis promoting and selling wines, Karavis said, “There are around 14 importers of Greek wines in Australia, and easily that it’s going to be more than 200 wine products in the market.”
Even traditional Greek wine companies are “going through a transformation, adopting modern trends,” he added.
The conversation ended with a few tastes of Lazaridis’ very special red, Magic Mountain, and the delicate dry white Assyrtiko.
