New Era in the Assosciation “Winemakers of North Greece”
Having completed 30 years of operation (since 1993), the association “Winemakers of North Greece” turns the page once again.
It was back in 1996 when the Association created the pioneering network of wineries “Wine Roads of Macedonia” (later North Greece with the addition of wineries from Epirus and Thrace), thus establishing wine tourism in our country as well as two nationwide events, the “Open Doors” (2005) in May and the World Wine Tourism Day (2012) in November.
It is noteworthy that the number of visitors in the “Wine Roads of North Greece” reached 120.000 in 2023, 30.000 of which only in the two wine tourism events.
In 1999, the first international wine competition was launched in Greece, where today, under the title “Thessaloniki Wine & Spirits Trophy”, the 25th edition is getting prepared, having contributed substantially to the qualitative development of Greek and Cypriot wine.
Among the thousands of wine tasting events that has held over the years, the Association is mainly distinguished for the series of events “VorOina”, wines from North Greece, addressed to the general public.
The first president of the Association was the winemaker Anestis Babatzimopoulos. He was followed by Giannis Boutaris, Vangelis Gerovassiliou, George Tsantalis, Giannis Vogiatzis, Stelios Kechris and, in recent years, Stellios Boutaris.
During his eight-year presidency (2016-2024), Stellios Boutaris led with his cosmopolitan personality to a lasting outward-looking image of the Association with a rebranding and a continuous renewal of its profile and communication.
Moreover, in this period, the Association has grown from 27 to 35 member wineries!
As of July 1, 2024, the new president is Eleni Sintou, chemist-winemaker with 25 years of experience as oenologist at Zoinos Winery in Epirus.
The 11-member Board of Directors is composed of the following members: Stelios Kechris (Kechris Winery), Marianthi Gerovassiliou (Ktima Gerovassiliou), Spyros Argyrakis (Argyrakis Wines), Christoforos Georgiadis (Argatia), Angelos Iatridis (Alpha Estate), Thomas Kamkoutis (Kamkoutis Vineyard), Gerasimos Lazaridis (Domaine Costa Lazaridi), Akis Papadopoulos (Wine Art Estate), Aphrodite Stergiou (Ktima Stergiou), Christos Taralas (Ktima Taralas).
From the website www.winemakersofnorthgreece.gr the public can be informed about the profile, objectives and actions of the Association “Winemakers of North Greece”, its member wineries, PDO and PGI, as well as the wine varieties of Northern Greece.
