Wine Enthusiast – October 2019

106 | WINE ENTHUSIAST | OCTOBER 2019

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Katogi Averoff Winery

Metsovo, Epirus

Born of a vision to create French-inspired wines from Greece’s mountain soils, this intrepid winery was established by Evangelos

Averoff-Tossizza in the late 1950s and still boasts one of the highest altitude vineyards in Greece, at more than 3,100 feet. The

first planting of Cabernet in the country, today the winery’s 12-acre Yiniets Vineyard also contains Merlot, Pinot Noir, Traminer and

indigenous varieties like Vlachiko. Its extreme setting challenges Chief Winemaker Dimitris Ziannis with the kinds of harrowing

pests you’d expect in such a place, including brown bears (who “do not miss the chance to pick as many [grapes] they can,”

says Ziannis), frost (the altitude also results in one of the latest harvests in Greece) and among the heaviest rainfalls per year,

which is thankfully tempered by the intense incline. Each parcel also requires meticulous customization in its cultivation, thanks

to a difference of more than 300 feet between the lowest and highest parts of the vineyard. The winery’s comprehensive line of

wines includes some sourced from other northern Greek regions like Naoussa and Macedonia, but its Metsovo bottlings are the

result of traditional Epirus region vineyard techniques that deliver lower yields, with concentrated aromas and phenolic content.

“In the cellar, our main objective is to maintain the primary fruit aromas, enhance the harsh conditions of the environment where

the vines are grown and respect the quality of the grapes,” says Ziannis. “In general, our philosophy is to make terroir wines rather

than technological wines.”

Katogi Averoff

vineyards at

harvest time