My introduction to the Vatistas Winery is a prime example of the phenomenon known as “six degrees of separation”. The journey began two summers ago when I was asked by my cousin if I would like to visit the Pavlou Estate Winery in my mom’s home town of Agios Panteleimon. The Pavlou Estate wines are distributed in the US by my friend, Konstantine Drougos.
Two years ago I visited New York City for a week and Konstantine was kind enough to show me the Greek eats in the city. While noshing on some mezedes at Kefi, Konstantine also brought some new wines for the staff and us to try. Just fresh and busted out of the shipping container was a Vatistas Malagouzia white. I instantly fell in love with this wine and I was very intrigued to learn more about the people behind this well-crafted wine.
Last year, one of the owners of the Pavlou Estate placed me in contact with Thodoris Vatistas, the son of vintner Giannis Vatistas. By this time, I already had plans to make two other stops in the Peloponnese (one in Leonidio, Arcadia and the other in Sparti, Laconia). Working in a visit to the Vatistas vineyards would have to be worked out (and it did).
The Vatistas Vineyards and wines are family-run and headed by patriarch Giannis Vatistas. The family’s origins are in the elevated Byzantine village of Lachi, below Mt. Vavila and above Greece’s southernmost tip of the mainland, Neapolis. I arranged to meet Thodoris in the town of Molai, where we would set off to visit the vineyards.
The Vatistas vineyards are not a single estate operation but rather a collection of vineyards (all family-owned) that range from a higher altitude (never exceeding 400 metres) and some plots located right beside the sea. Some plots were located on rolling hills, vines were situated on terraced narrow strips of land and then some flat pieces of land, within walking distance of the sea.
When I say Vatistas is a family-run operation, it’s no exageration. Plot after plot, I took photos of the vineyards and listened as Thodoris would relate the grape varietal, the elevation, number of plants for each location. One by one we drove in a 4 X 4 to survey all the pieces of the Vatistas winery. One stop included us dropping by a hotel that carried Vatistas wines and we were also treated to a snack of some baked and stuffed zucchini blossoms. These were out of this world, I never had anything taste like this before and I am anxious for zucchini flowers to come into season so that I may share this delicious recipe with you!
Eventually, we came to meet up with his father, among the vines, inspecting the grapes and seeing if they were ready for harvesting. This might seem ho-hum to you but I was expecting “the help” to this. Upon meeting Giannis (Vatistas), I could sense the passion and dedication this man had to producing the best wines possible.
After finishing the tour of the vineyards, Thodoris and I headed to a Psarotaverna (fish tavern) in the seaside town of Neapolis. We sat in a shaded table by sea with the islands of Kythera and Elafonissos in full view. At night, one can see the steady stream of commercial freight ships, tankers and cruise ships pass through this narrow straight, to and from Piraeus. We sat down and settled on a lunch of fried red mullets, some braised Vlita tossed in extra-virgin olive oil and lemon juice, a Greek salad, local bread and some fries. Naturally, we also ordered some wine.
One of the gems of the Vatistas offerings of wine is the Kidonitsa, a local grape varietal of Laconia. This wine is golden in colour, notes of quince, apples and a slight perfume, fruity aroma. Crsip, served cold and with some acid, this wine was a delight to enjoy with the fried red mullet. After lunch, I checked into my hotel, had a quick nap and then took a plunge into the sea to wake up after my brief slumber. A quick shower and change and Thodoris would be knocking on my door. We were heading to the nearby fortress of Monemvassia (more on Monemvassia for another post).
Before we set our for Monemvassia, I was taken to where all the magic takes place: the winery where grapes are “crushed”, fermented and under a watchful eye, turned into wine. No fancy estate, no vast underground wine cellar – just a building who’s purpose is to make quality wine plus a large container to house the all the vintages. The Vatistas family has placed all their resources in equipment and apparatus for making, bottling and storing wine. All their efforts are concentrated on the wine, it’s all the marketing they need (plus some word of mouth).
The sun was setting and we headed out towards Monemvassia, about a 45 minute drive north of Neapolis on a twisted and winding road. After walking through the narrow alleys of Monemvassia, taking photos and ultimately working up an appetite, we settled in for dinner at another restaurant that carried Vatistas wines. We all choose meat dishes and quite easily matched our meal with the Vatsitas Nemea, made with Agiorghitiko grape varietal. Full bodied, aged in French oak barrels for 1 yr and ideal for red meats or poultry with red sauces.
The first Vatistas wine I tasted was the Malagouzia. This grape varietal was almost extinct and it originally comes from the area of Nafpaktos. However, many wineries have embraced this varietal and have planted the wines to produce this wonderful white that has a lingering aroma of tropical fruits and just enough citrus to make this wine perfect for shellfish and other seafood.
Vatistas has 16 different wines on offer, reds, whites and even a semi-sweet dessert wine. If you’re visiting Laconia (southern Greece), you should have no problem sampling one of their wines. When in Athens, you may also drop by and dine on traditional fish and seafood dishes, served at the family’s taverna “Babis” in the Athens suburb of Vari.
Vatistas wines are not yet distributed here in Canada but my good friend Constantine carries their labels in the US and he’s passionate about the wines he carries and he was the one who introduced me to the Vatistas wines and more importantly, the family. My visit to the winery was one of the highlights of my vacation to Greece last year, I believe in this family’s wine, I’ve made new friends in the Vatistas and it always helps knowing that good people with passion are behind a quality product. That’s Greek to me!
Links:
Enquire about Vatistas wines in the US
If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at https://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.
© 2007-2010 Peter Minakis
The vineyard looks like a little slice of heaven on earth.
Both the food and the wine sound very good indeed. Those stuffed flowers look amazing!
Beautiful photos and it sounds like a real dream of an adventure. I should keep my eye out for that wine.
Very informative post, you surely must had a great time -a very happy face in all images, and please do share the recipe… they look delicious!! Wish I could take one from the monitor… !
Peter you have really excelled in writing this post, showcasing Greek wines and winemakers. It certainly dispels the myth of Greek wines all being ‘retsina”. I can’t wait to read about Monemvassia…it’s been years since I was there!
What a great day you had there Peter – the vineyards, the food, the company. All the great things about traveling and knowing people in the places you visit. I’ll be waiting for the stuffed zucchini flowers recipe – one of my favorite things.
I just can’t seem to convice loval producers of the benefit of using the zucchini flowers. I will keep on badgering them until I get my way:D Thanks for this virtual tour of the winery Peter. It was certainly an experience of a lifetime.
Fascinating..I was interested especially by the fact that they are able to grow vines on the terraced areas, not just the plains. In Lebanon the main growers are in an expanse of flat land. Great of you to be able to churn out National Geographic-type articles! What a deal! Now I don’t have to subscribe to the magazine.
btw, per your instructions I placed the mastic in the freezer for 24 hours, put the pebbles in a ziploc, and using all the power my 114 lbs frame could muster and a meat mallet, I pounded and pounded BAM BAM!!! got the most powdery particles ever. Merci.
Hmm I don’t know if they have these wines at the Greek shop in CA but I am going to NY (and hopefully Kefi) in April and will have to look out for them. I CANNOT wait for your zuccinni blossom recipe! Thanks for sharing this winery experience. Take me next time!!!
Great post on the wines. I am craving some of those stuffed zucchini flowers right now. I love them.
Zucchini blossoms are incredible! I wonder why it’s taken people so long to catch onto them? I can never find them at the farmer’s market. I’ve been eating them since the 1990s, grown fresh from my mother’s garden, sometimes stuffed with rice and baked in a tangy tomato sauce and other times battered and fried to a golden crisp….food for the Gods!
Looks like a really lovely visit!
Peter, I’m not totally surprised that you never had zucchini flowers…it is an Italian dish after all. LOL!! Or maybe…like everything else… it was originally a Greek dish which was introduced to the Romans, who improved upon the design :-) :-) I’ve been eating them since I was a tot and love them!
Nice write up on Theo’s place. They really are “salt of the earth” types. One day when in Greece, I’ll have to go south and pay him a visit at his place :-)
Alex