Memories of Giannakis Nikolaos

 

All families of the Sotiros in Thassos had few vineyards or some more than others. It was the largest source of income, even larger than from the cultivation of olives. But after the phylloxera epidemic in the 50's, few vines were replanted, because people preferred to work in Kavala or migrate to a more “relaxed life” as they said. I remember the arbor of sideriti (greek variety) at the entrance of one of our vineyard. I remember at my mother's house emptying the baskets full of grapes from paraporti (linos back door) to the highest part of the courtyard in linos (traditional wine-press) and her siblings stepping on them. I remember I fell from the donkey which was loaded with baskets while going with my mother in the vineyard for the transportation of grapes. I remember at the edge of the village the distilleries and many villagers who make their own tsipouro with loud voices and laughter. I even remember one barrel of wine in the basement of our house that my father was keeping it for when I get married. But when we left at 1959 to move to Kavala, the wine was not kept properly and unfortunately evaporated. These experiences had a great impact on me, which resulted in me being cut off from the vine and wine. Since 1982, I started making wine in the stairwell of my house in Kavala every year. Many celebrations were made with these wines. In the meantime, I was hired in the public service.

One day, my friend John Chloros (publisher, journalist) we were casually drinking and he said ¨ since you love doing what you do, why not share it with the world and keep it only to yourself and your friends ¨. This exhortation was extremely important to me. In 2000 I started planting vines to Sotiros, and in 2004 I resigned from the public service and found my little winery in Skala Sotiros.

The vines were planted where the vineyard of Sotiros was before 1960. We didn’t convert anything. It was all wisely done by our ancestors. The cultivation could not be anything but organic. The wine that was produced was organic. Even then I was not happy, because when you find yourself in an environment of absolute purity loaded with so much wine-growing and wine history (from the 5th century BC), you realize that you are obliged to do so much to have your conscience clear.

But when you’re constanlty looking, something comes out. I started listening carefully to the experiences of my old fellows, started reading the ancient writings that I came across and watch the activity of alternative wine-makers around the world. The knowledge I gathered was enough for the big change.

2009. The year that we first made the first barrel of Chardonnay wine. That wine had to be kept sealed in barrels for at least two years. Without being absolutely certain of what we were doing at that time, in 2010 we used the same way to produce our wines using red and white grapes. Finally, in 2011 we open our first barrel. My God, we made it!

The recipe: organic cultivated vineyard, a small yield per vine, well matured, traditional vinification without any additional correction, stay in oak barrels on the winelees all the time, without the use of sulphites.