I first came across Yiannis Paraskevopoulos in 2003 at his Gaia winery in Nemea, where he was being interviewed for an American television show.

Eloquent and charismatic, with George Clooney-like looks and a passion for his craft, Bordeaux-trained Paraskevopoulos was an ideal advocate for the new generation of Greek winemakers.

Since then, his award-winning wines have appeared among the top-rated labels in prestigious international publications as Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, Wine & Spirits magazine and Decanter. Ranked among Greece’s top wineries, Gaia now exports to more than 16 countries, including the US, Canada and Australia.

Paraskevopoulos made his first trip to Australia this month, along with Stelios Boutaris of Kir-Yianni, for an intense program of tastings, industry seminars and promotional dinners.

Ever compelling and candid, Paraskevopoulos is under no illusion about the monumental task of selling Greece’s unknown wine varieties to the world.

“We have to convince sommeliers that our wines are worth proposing and that takes years,” says Paraskevopoulos. “They have to be convinced that this is a real trend, that it’s not the result of just one vintage or a stroke of luck, but this wine has continuity and reliability.”

While Australia isn’t a big market for Greek wine, it is nonetheless significant. “For us, the important markets are the ones that are wine enthusiasts and wine knowledgeable, and Australians know their wine.”

It’s ironic, he says, that Greeks have been making wines for 6000 years, but are considered new players in the game. Greek grape varieties are their only international selling point.

“Wine has to be good, it has to be consistent and it has to be different, and I think Greek wine fulfils this. At the end of the day, we are not Italy. We produce 15 times less than Italy or France, so by definition and size we are a niche market.

“The entire appellation area of Nemea is about 7000 acres, whereas in Australia, individual winemakers may have that size vineyard.”

After five years training in Bordeaux, Paraskevopoulos, 50, was hired by veteran winemaker Yiannis Boutaris – Stelios’ father – and eventually became the lead winemaker at Boutari’s Santorini winery.

“He’s been my mentor. He exposed me and the other winemakers to the Greek varieties. He told us a very simple thing, that if you ever think of having an international career, it’s only through these local varieties. Who needs another chardonnay? He taught us how to respect these varieties and their purity.”

In 1994, Paraskevopoulos joined forces with agronomist Leon Karatsolas, producing the award-winning Thalassitis, a distinctive, Santorini white made from assyrtiko, Greece’s premier white variety.

Three years later they built a state-of-the-art winery in the Tuscan-like vineyards of Nemea, home to the powerhouse agiorgitiko red.

“I chose the two areas which I felt most confident, and the two that have the most exporting potential,” he recalls.

“These awards have been slowly turning into sales and now 40 per cent of what we do is export. The international market is expanding for us faster than the Greek market.”

For the past eight years, he says the international image of Greek wine has been boosted due to the efforts of All About Greek Wines, an independent wine bureau established in the US by about 30 Greek winemakers.

They have aggressively promoted Greek wine, flown influential wine writers, master sommeliers and wine educators to Greece and run road shows to raise awareness in the local market.

“In the US, in the past it was very difficult even getting an appointment at a non-Greek restaurant,” Paraskevopoulos recalls.

“Now they know the wines, they know the vintages and the winemakers and they know these varieties, some of which are impossible for them to pronounce, and they are confident carrying these wines on their lists.”

A new breed of trendy, modern restaurants in the US also helped raise the profile of Greek wine, something Paraskevopoulos hopes will happen in Australia.

“The more we see Greek restaurants improving and becoming more interesting choices, the more you will see interesting wines arriving in the country.

“We hope that there will be more examples like George Calombaris. I am sure there are a great number of second generation restaurants that are Greek-owned that will move on to the next step and show proudly the depth of Greek cuisine.”

The latest challenges for Greek wine, however, have been the Greek financial crisis, which has seen the local fine wine market shrink, while global warming is also affecting vintages.

“Nemea used to have an ideal weather pattern for reds, with warm, dry days and cold nights. Lately we’ve had warmer nights, humidity and torrential rains during harvest,” he says.

Tropical conditions in Nemea one year yielded only 7000 bottles of Gaia Estate, instead of 35,000, while in 2002, the vineyard produced no wine.

But the industry is in good shape. A professor of oenology at the Technical University of Athens, Paraskevopoulos spends much of his time training the next generation of winemakers, who no longer need to leave the country to study.

“It’s a very buzzing industry that is doing exciting stuff. You will find beautiful, interesting wines, great winemakers who haven’t had the opportunity to expose their wines to the Australian market, but they are there for you to discover.”