Part of a series of videos to bring 100 different grape varieties from Greece to you. Fact File Kotsifali Area grown: Indigenous to Crete, where it is largely cultivated in the prefecture of Heraklion, only sporadically grown on Cyclades. History: There is plenty of evidence that a wine culture has existed in Crete from 3000 BC. Between 1974

Greeks are extremely?generous people. Sometimes when two different cultures come together, the outcome can be surprising. I am of German heritage, and before we settled down in Greece my family and me lived for 18 months in a small German village called Oberjosbach. It is not easy for newcomers to make contact in such a

Over the last few weeks, I have organised several tasting events of Greek wines abroad. Being back now in Athens, I continue to taste wines from Greece on a daily basis. In my own setting, I have much more time and tend to go back to the same wine over a period of several hours.

I feel strongly that Greek wines are ready to take the plunge. In order to put my money where my mouth is, I organised a tasting event of a large variety of Greek wines to be scrutinized by a number of well-known German wine personalities, on Monday, November 9th, in Hamburg. My experiences to date have

It is always an experience to travel with Greeks; my personal highlight is to travel with lots of Greeks on a plane. For most people, ?chaotic? would be the single best fittingly term to describe this. I just returned from 3-day trip to Hamburg via Zurich. I applaud the airlines that do their best to

Last weekend marked the start of a new important phase in my quest to promote Greek wines abroad. Up until then, I had presented wines solely to wine merchants and wine critics. The feedback received so far on the quality has been extremely positive. The time had come to do the same for the public

This is a very special post for the Only in Greece column, as it is written by the most important person in my life – my wife Alexandra. She gives a great insight into how the "southern" cultures work. Simply read and enjoy – I am so proud of her! I am Alek, Markus?s wife, Greek,

One evening a short while ago I was overcome by a sudden urge for really dark chocolate. I only like chocolate with a minimum cocoa content of 70%, the higher the better. I also prefer to eat dark chocolate cold and store it in the fridge. A few days before, my mother-in-law had given me some

Greeks are often temperamental people. It is nearly impossible to drive?through Athens without someone yelling at you or gesturing wildly at you. For me, this is in fact a valuable learning experience for slang words, and it works wonders if I put up a friendly smile and ask the aggressor with my German dialect to

?The Wines of Greece: Santorini and Assyrtiko? is the theme of a comprehensive 15 page report that has just been?released by The International Wine Review . They publish bi-monthly reports that are available by subscription only, a six-month online subscription (3 reports) is offered for $ 25.00 and includes access to all previous reports. A

The technological revolution currently taking place on a truly global basis through Web 2.0 is staggering. The wine sector is already embracing it, be it in the United States, in Europe, or in Australia. In Greece, things work differently. Business is done in a much more traditional way. Personal contacts are the key, and face-to-face discussions...

Greeks interpret even basic traffic regulations differently than most of us. Somehow the relaxed way of enjoying life does not extend to driving. Even worse, it is replaced with the passionate temperament only Greeks seem to be capable of. Life on the roads is fast and furious. ? ? Where in most countries the normal reaction to a

Today, more than 700 wineries exist in Greece. Out of all the wineries, three producers, or less than 0.43% of the existing wineries, have a total share of over 50% of the Greek wine consumption in the major export markets. I am well aware that these three wineries are able to produce solid quality in

Liebe Weinfreundin, lieber Weinfreund, viele von Ihnen kennen sicherlich jenes von Optimismus und Gottvertrauen zeugende Lied, das der ber?hmte Schauspieler und Entertainer Johannes Heesters noch bis vor wenigen Jahren bei jeder sich bietenden Gelegenheit ungefragt zum Vortrage brachte: ?Ich m?chte hundert Jahre werden! Das w?r? was, das w?r? was, ...

Greeks are enormously generous when inviting others or being invited themselves. It is polite to always bring gifts to friends and considered to be quite normal to bring along a cake and a bottle of wine when being invited to someone else?s home. If you plan on hosting a dinner party, do not ever prepare

When I lived in London in the nineties, I used to indulge myself in many wine themed dinner events. In Athens, food and wine pairing social events are a fairly recent addition to the restaurant scene. Greeks have just started to embrace wines on a more serious level. My favourite wine shop in Athens is Kazakos

Part of a series of videos to bring 100 different Greek grape varieties to you. Fact File Mavrotragano Area grown: Santorini History: Eighty years ago, Mavrotragano was commonly grown throughout the island. Traditionally, it was used in the production of sweet wines. Over the following seventy years, these plantings were pulled out little by little...

The average Greek citizen is very opinionated about politics. Seriously, people are genuinely interested in politics; it is a part of the Greek culture. So is drama; citizens here just love it. If a scandal breaks lose, everyone knows about it and discusses it at great length. This is one of the reasons why it