Naoussa Xinomavro Experience

Xinomavro means 'acid black.' MW students consistently mistake it for Barolo in blind tastings — at twice the price. Yiannis Boutaris left his family's 145-year wine dynasty, became mayor of Thessaloniki, was beaten by nationalists, and died in November 2024. His Kir-Yianni winery on Mount Vermion makes the Ramnista that triggers the Barolo confusion. Dalamara's vines are 150 years old — only 300 bottles of Vieilles Vignes per vintage. Naoussa received Greece's first PDO in 1971. Every Greek wine law since is a copy of the template written here.

What to do there

6 things to do

1. 1 Find the River Where 13 Women Chose Death Over Surrender History · Free

   Where: Walk to the Arapitsa waterfall monument at Stoubanoi, following the river from Naoussa town center. You'll hear it before you see it.

   What: In April 1822, Ottoman forces destroyed Naoussa. While fighters held the tower for three days to let people escape, thirteen young women of Naoussa threw themselves off this waterfall into the river below rather than be taken. A monument stands exactly where they jumped. The city has been officially designated 'The Heroic City of Naoussa' by royal decree since 1955 — the title is still part of its legal name today. This river flows through the middle of town every day, past the wine bars and the bakeries, indifferent and immortal.

   How: Stand at the monument and look down at the water. Then look upstream — the Arapitsa's sources are 3km away in Agios Nikolaos, surrounded by ancient plane trees. Ask any local for 'To Choros Thysias' — the Place of Sacrifice.

   Backup: If you can't find the monument, every person in Naoussa knows it. It is not a tourist attraction. It is theirs.

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2. 2 Taste the Wine MW Students Mistake for Barolo Wine · Price: moderate

   Where: Kir-Yianni Estate, Yianakohori, 3km northwest of Naoussa. GPS: 40.6718, 22.0572. Open Tue–Sun 11:00–18:00. Reservation required: epalamida@kiryianni.gr or +30 23320 51100.

   What: Order the 'Ramnista' — single-vineyard flagship, named 'Royal Hill' in local dialect. Then consider this: at Master of Wine bootcamps, Xinomavro has repeatedly been mistaken for Barolo at blind tastings — sometimes valued at twice the price. Same pale ruby color. Same high acid. Same gripping tannins. Same dried tomato and red berry profile. Same extraordinary aging potential. But Xinomavro grows only here, on 300 hectares of volcanic slopes below Mount Vermion.

   How: Smell young Ramnista first — red cherry, cranberry, aromatic herbs, ferocious tannins. Ask for an older vintage. At 10+ years it transforms: tobacco, leather, dried tomatoes, truffle. Tasting packages run 3–12 labels with food platters. Meal pairings: 3-course €35 / 4-course €40 / 5-course €65 per person.

   Backup: If Ramnista is sold out, any of the 25 labels on the tasting menu will do. The estate produces across both Naoussa and Amyndeon.

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3. 3 Ask About the Mayor Who Built This Winery History · Free

   Where: At Kir-Yianni, while you're tasting. The estate is named 'Mr. Yiannis' — a term of deep local respect.

   What: Yiannis Boutaris worked at his family's winery Boutari (founded 1879) from 1969 to 1994. Then he walked away. Took nothing except a small plot he'd farmed since 1970 in Yianakohori. In 1997, he bottled his first vintage here. In 2010, he ran for mayor of Thessaloniki and won — ending 24 years of hardline conservative rule. Reelected in 2014 with 58%. Named 'Best Mayor of the World' for October 2012 by the City Mayors Foundation in London. In 2018 he was hospitalized after being beaten by ultra-nationalists for being too progressive — too willing to talk to Turkey, too willing to acknowledge the Holocaust in Greece. He died in November 2024, age 82. The wine in your glass exists because a man followed what he called his 'vigneron soul' — and then spent the rest of his life proving that making great wine and being a decent human are not separate callings.

   How: This step costs nothing — it's a conversation. Ask the staff about him. They honor his memory with genuine emotion.

   Backup: Read kiryianni.gr/yiannis-boutaris-passing/ before your visit. You will arrive differently.

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4. 4 Touch a Vine Older Than Your Great-Grandparents Adventure · Price: low

   Where: Dalamara Winery, 1km northwest of Naoussa town. Address: 31 G. Kirtsi Str. Mon–Sun 10:00–18:00. Phone ahead: +30 2332028321.

   What: Kostis Dalamara is the sixth generation of his family to make wine here — since 1840. Some of his vines are over 150 years old. Those vines make 'Vieilles Vignes' — of which only 300 bottles are produced each year. His single-vineyard 'Paliokalias' (85-year-old vines, 6 hectares, organic) is only produced in exceptional vintages. Jancis Robinson has written about it. Kostis studied in Beaune, came home to Naoussa, and went biodynamic in 2008. Paliokalias averages ~$70/bottle at retail. The Vieilles Vignes barely exists outside the cellar.

   How: Ask to walk through the vineyard before tasting. The oldest trunks are gnarled and thick as wrists — they look like bonsai sculptures that have survived two world wars, the Ottoman era, and Greek independence. The family welcomes spontaneous visitors who've called ahead.

   Backup: If Dalamara is closed, Thymiopoulos Vineyards in Trilofos offers a similarly intimate visit — contact via thymiopoulosvineyards.gr.

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5. 5 Drink the Wine That Invented Greek Wine Law Wine · Price: low

   Where: Vaeni Naoussa cooperative (daily 09:00–14:00, walk-in tours free) or Kappa Wine Bar in the town center for glasses of the full PDO range.

   What: In 1971, Naoussa became Greece's very first wine appellation. The entire Greek PDO system — Santorini, Nemea, Moschofilero, all of it — was built using Naoussa as the template. Before 1971, Greek wine was mostly anonymous bulk. One appellation, one town, one grape — 100% Xinomavro — changed all of that. Hold a glass to the light: look at how pale it is. A wine called 'Acid Black', and it looks almost like a light Pinot Noir. This is the paradox: low skin pigmentation, pale color, but ferocious tannins and acid. The name tells you what the grape feels like in your mouth, not what it looks like in the glass.

   How: Order any Naoussa PDO Xinomavro with a plate of local cheese and olives. Under €15 for a glass of benchmark history. Tell the bartender you know it's Greece's first PDO. Watch their face change.

   Backup: Vaeni Naoussa is the cooperative producing the most accessible Xinomavro in the region — nothing fancy, everything essential. A perfect calibration before visiting the estates.

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6. 6 Hunt the Bottle That Started Modern Greek Wine Wine · Price: moderate · Optional

   Where: Thymiopoulos Vineyards, Trilofos village, southeastern end of the Naoussa PDO zone. Visits by appointment — contact via thymiopoulosvineyards.gr.

   What: In 2005, Apostolos Thymiopoulos bottled his first wine from family vineyards in Trilofos. He called it 'Gi kai Ouranos' — Earth and Sky. 45-year-old vines, biodynamic farming, wild yeast, unfiltered, minimum sulphur. Decanter Rising Star 2022. The wine became the benchmark of what critics call 'the modern school of Xinomavro.' Guinea fowls and turkeys roam the vineyard for pest control. Apostolos now makes 10 different expressions of Xinomavro. Earth and Sky is the one that changed Greece.

   How: Book at least a week in advance. This is an intimate family winery, not a tasting salon. Ask why guinea fowls. Ask why wild yeast. Ask why unfiltered. Each answer reveals a philosophy that is the opposite of corporate wine. If the winery visit doesn't work, find Earth and Sky at a wine shop in Thessaloniki before your trip — around €25–30.

   Backup: Ask at Kappa Wine Bar in Naoussa town whether they stock 'Gi kai Ouranos' by the glass. Several bars in the region carry Thymiopoulos wines.

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