Greek wine, especially white, has become fashionable in the restaurants of New York and London and it’s certain that current production will need to increase to meet demand in the future, winemaker Evangelos Gerovasiliou told Praktorio radio station in an interview.
“In the restaurants of New York and London, Greek wine is the fashion lately and these places are those that disseminate the reputation of wines worldwide. This allows us to believe that in the coming years the amount of Greek wine produced today will not be sufficient for our exports. I say this with great confidence,” Gerovasiliou said, but noted that producers will have to ensure that the quality is the same as today and not resort to “mass” and cheap wine “because there, the competition internationally is very big.”
To ensure quality, Greek winemakers must cultivate local varieties in the regions that produce the best quality, Gerovasiliou says. “These areas are unfortunately not those producing larger quantities. They are the hilly and island areas, where the quantities [of production] are much smaller but of very good quality – and this is the great asset for our exports,” he noted.
He also said the economic crisis had an unpredictable positive effect on the sales of Greek wines, as markets which were previously tough to enter into – such as China, Russia and the United States – are suddenly buying more quantities to help the Greek economy. “In the beginning [they buy them] to help Greece and then they discover the quality is excellent. The crisis opened doors for exports but also opened the minds of people in Greece, increased their ingenuity to seek outlets,” he said.
(source: ana-mpa)
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