Yiannis Siganos (Mr. Vertigo): I see the trend for imported wine returning to its place but personally, I don't want it as a show off or part of the lifestyle that I drink Sassicaia and I'm someone... I appreciated great Greek wines after many trips abroad and that's what we aim to achieve at Mr. Vertigo; not to cut from Greek wine but to complement it, to learn, both us and the producers, from what happens abroad and to adapt. At Mr. Vertigo, a very large percentage of sales, over 80%, is Greek wine.

Greece and Grapes' View
At Greece and Grapes, we started trading exclusively Greek wines amidst the crisis in 2012. This does not reflect some national "attachment" but our belief that Greek wine had and has the potential to "travel" to Greek customers, as well as to customers abroad.

The economic crisis, in a sense, benefited Greek wine due to a shift by Greeks towards domestic products in general, to prevent money from going abroad. Meanwhile, Greek producers have shown significant improvements in the quality of wines they produce, which in many cases can stand on the international stage. The many indigenous varieties and the uniqueness of the Greek terroir for international varieties contributed to this event. We can confidently say there was a "cosmogony" and mutation in the market of Greek wine, which obviously left a positive commercial imprint on us.

Today, as we have become accustomed, rather than overcoming the crisis, it is logical for some level of return of imported wines to be observed. It's logical, as producers abroad have many more years of expertise and, of course, can "more easily" appeal to the public looking for economical wines, which we tend to call mass consumption. At the same time, the price increase of Greek wines, as a result of commercial blooming, led to significant price increases in some cases, such as with the wines of Santorini. Here, we would humbly say that the attention of Greek producers is needed, because it's certain that they now have an international footprint but the aforementioned increases may not be "absorbable" in some cases. At Greece and Grapes, we say reasonably yes to Greek wine and believe in its potentials, as long as we wisely maintain the right balance of price and quality and reach the point where we can compete with imported wine at all levels.

The Reasons

I have the theory that if something happens, there isn't just one cause, one single culprit. So, if imported wine is rising in the domestic market at the expense of Greek wine—especially at points of sale we discussed above that offer a great variety of glasses—the explanation might be quite complex and require extensive discussion. Something that is in the nature of Greeks, to discuss and exchange opinions often around one or more glasses of wine.

Let's consider the following and wonder what is true or not (I clarify that these are questions and not conclusions). Thus, everyone can discuss, with comments being more than welcome:

  • The prices of Greek wine have taken the elevator to the penthouse in several cases, while on the contrary, you find wines from the international vineyard in more profitable offers for the businessman.
  • Greek wines are expensive for their quality, because the costing is not done based on quality but based on the market and competition.
  • Wines from the international vineyard always remain more exotic and "cool", while Greek ones are found everywhere, everyone knows how much they cost and why ultimately should the consumer pay triple for them?
  • There are not enough interesting Greek wines while there is an abundance of foreign ones.

In conclusion
Regardless of what of the above is true and to what extent, the coin always has two sides. Maybe we need even better wine efforts at more reasonable prices but also more support, so that Greek wine is always in the spotlight? Or maybe these two go hand in hand? I would be very happy to hear your opinion.