Since I can remember, my family’s life has been connected with vineyards and wine. Perhaps this is due to the fact that we live in an area which is an O.P.A.P.  (V.Q.P.R.D.) zone and here vineyards are the main cultivation. Perhaps because both my grandfather and my father have been making wine and tsipouro all their lives.

As a child, I remember playing with my sisters tag in our vineyards in the Spring, digging our noses in the vine’s flowers in order to smell their unique scent. Being amazed with the miracle of nature that was unfolding in front of our eyes in the Summer where grapes were changing colours and filling with juices and wonderful aromas, and of course I remember the grape-harvesting season! – the biggest celebration which even though we were only kids we could realise its importance.

And after that, the agony of my father for the fermentation of the wine, his patience, being awake at nights, his love and respect for this ancient process which was taking place in our cellar…
I believe that whoever grew having these images, within these colours, within these aromas could not be occupied with anything else in their life.

Perhaps it’s because of the shadow of the “Sleeping Lady” of Agrafa which is reflected in the water of Plastira’s Lake…

Then again maybe the words of my grandfather Giorgos are to blame: “shh, be quiet, the wine is sleeping…”