Six Generations & the Savatiano Soul

The story of Nikolou Winery begins in 1875, in the fertile plain of Mesogeia, the agricultural heartland that has supplied Athens with wine and produce since antiquity. Vassilios Anastasios Nikolou, the family patriarch, secured a contract from the Kingdom of Greece bearing the handwritten signature of Prime Minister Charilaos Trikoupis — one of the most significant political figures in modern Greek history, the architect of Greek industrialisation and the man whose name adorns the country's largest bridge. This contract granted Vassilios Nikolou the right to cultivate vineyards of the Savatiano variety, the indigenous white grape of Attica that has defined the region's viticultural identity for millennia. In the centre of Koropi, a historical winemaking town just 40 minutes from downtown Athens and minutes from the modern international airport, Vassilios laid the foundation for a traditional stone-built Mesogeian house with an attached winery — the architectural form that characterised Attican viticulture in the 19th century, when every house had its own winery and wine was as fundamental to domestic life as bread and olive oil.

The early decades of the Nikolou estate were defined by the rhythms of traditional Attican agriculture — the cultivation of Savatiano on bush vines with deep root systems that could withstand the region's drought; the production of must and wine for local consumption and for supply to the taverns of Athens; and the development of the family connections with long-standing tavern owners that would sustain the winery's commercial relationships for generations. The Mesogeian house and winery that Vassilios built became the physical and spiritual centre of the family's identity — a structure of stone and tradition that has survived wars, economic crises, phylloxera, and the relentless urbanisation of the Attican plain, and that remains today the only traditional winery in Koropi to have maintained its original infrastructure. The stone elements of the winery, preserved through every renovation, are instantly recognisable to visitors who have seen them in scenes from old Greek cinema — a cultural continuity that the Nikolou family proudly references during tastings held in these historic premises.

The phylloxera devastation of the early 20th century — which destroyed nearly the entire Greek vineyard and marked the end of the old, ungrafted plantings — was the first great test of the family's resilience. Evangelos Nikolou and his wife Maria, the second generation, took on the challenge of replanting using phylloxera-resistant rootstocks, a technological revolution that transformed Greek viticulture and that required not merely new vines but new knowledge, new techniques, and a new understanding of the relationship between the vine and the soil. Since that replanting, the family has dedicated itself exclusively to viticulture and winemaking, passing down knowledge and passion through each generation so that the next could lift the winery to a new level. The 1970s saw the establishment of the initial business relationships with Athenian taverns — connections secured through family ties and maintained through the consistent quality of the Nikolou must and Retsina that flowed from the Koropi cellar to the capital's tables.

The modern era of Nikolou Winery began in 1980, when Vassilios Nikolou — the first in the family to study Chemistry and Oenology — renovated the old family house and upgraded the facilities with modern technology, setting new standards aimed at completely reshaping the winemaking approach. This was an unprecedented move for the wider Koropi region, where most producers remained locked in traditional methods and where the concept of bottled quality wine was still foreign. Vassilios's education and vision paved the way for the family to begin bottling wines that could stand alongside the best of Greece, transforming the estate from a bulk producer of must and Retsina into a winery capable of expressing the full potential of Attican terroir. In 1993, the family achieved a milestone that would define their future direction: the bottling of Savatiano without the addition of pine resin, showcasing for the first time the variety's quality potential as a standalone white wine rather than merely the base for Retsina. This cuvée, originally named Avros Nikolou, demonstrated what the Nikolous had long believed — that Savatiano, when cultivated with care and vinified with precision, could produce wines of genuine distinction, with the citrus freshness, the herbal complexity, and the saline minerality that have since become the variety's signature. Today, the Avros label is produced exclusively from Muscat of Alexandria, but the 1993 breakthrough established the philosophical foundation for everything that followed: a commitment to showcasing the unique characteristics of each variety through single-varietal winemaking and innovative experimentation.

The new millennium brought further transformation. In 2007, the family invested in upgrading the technological equipment and the oenological laboratory, enclosing the open-air winery and creating a cool underground cellar that could support the ageing and refinement of more ambitious wines. The stone elements were preserved — the family understood that their history was their greatest asset, that the traditional architecture of the Mesogeian house was as much a part of their identity as the Savatiano in their vineyards. In 2015, the Nikolou family achieved their most celebrated innovation: the production of Botanic, the first and only sparkling Retsina made using the traditional method — a wine that combines two great and historic European traditions, Greek Retsina and French Champagne, into a single, unprecedented expression. This sparkling Retsina, which ages on its lees during the second fermentation in bottle, carries the botanical, resinous character of traditional Retsina into the realm of fine sparkling wine, with fine persistent bubbles, delicate pine and masticha aromas, and a full-bodied herbal palate that has no equivalent in the global wine landscape. The achievement earned Nikolou Winery the honour of Best European Winery 2018 at the 16th Pan-European Congress of Gastronomy and Wine CEUCO — recognition not merely of technical skill but of the creative vision that has driven the family for six generations.

The contemporary Nikolou Winery is a family collaboration of extraordinary depth. Vassilios Nikolou, the chemist and professor of oenology, brings scientific rigour and academic authority to the cellar; his son Evangelos Nikolou, a viticulturist-oenologist and PhD candidate in winemaking process and technological advancements, represents the next generation's commitment to pushing the boundaries of what Attican wine can achieve. Rania Skliri manages the winery's operations and visitor experience, while Christina Nikolou serves as the estate's legal advisor. Together, they have established a new philosophy focused primarily on promoting the Savatiano variety and Retsina wine, as well as other Greek varieties from Attica, while embracing exports to European and third countries and welcoming visitors under permit from the Greek National Tourism Organization. The winery is open year-round for tastings and tours, offering three distinct experiences — the Standard Option, the Premium Option, and the Savatiano Panorama — each designed to guide visitors through the extraordinary range of expressions that the Nikolou family has coaxed from their indigenous varieties.

The winemaking philosophy at Nikolou Winery is governed by a dual commitment — to honour the deep traditions of Attican viticulture that the family has sustained for nearly 150 years, and to push the boundaries of what those traditions can achieve through innovation, experimentation, and an unwavering focus on the indigenous Savatiano variety. The estate's philosophy emphasises showcasing the unique characteristics of each variety through single-varietal winemaking — a radical departure from the blending practices that have historically dominated Greek commercial wine production, and a conviction that Savatiano, like Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc, possesses sufficient complexity and distinctiveness to stand alone as a flagship variety. This single-varietal focus is most evident in the Savatiano Panorama tasting experience, which guides visitors through seven distinct expressions of the grape — from the crisp, fresh basic Savatiano to the lees-aged Savatiano Fine Lees, the natural orange Savatiano Yellow, the Retsina-based Botanic Base, the sparkling Botanic, the Kodra Recina, and the sundried-grape Sweet Dream — a vertical exploration that reveals the extraordinary versatility of a variety that has too often been dismissed as merely a workhorse grape for Retsina production.

The natural wine programme at Nikolou represents the family's most adventurous frontier — a commitment to minimal intervention that produces wines of extraordinary purity and individuality while honouring the ancient techniques that defined Greek winemaking before the advent of modern technology. The Savatiano Yellow, the estate's flagship natural wine, is made completely naturally: no added sulfites, wild indigenous yeasts, no clarification or filtering, and extended skin contact that transforms the wine's colour from white to a deep yellow-orange hue. Sourced from 60-year-old bush vines, the grapes possess a concentration and genetic complexity that young vines cannot replicate, and the natural vinification — with its deliberate embrace of oxidation, its encouragement of microbial diversity, and its rejection of the sterile uniformity that commercial winemaking demands — produces a wine of staggering aromatic complexity: tropical fruits like mango and apricot, orange peel, saltiness, spices, and a textural depth that evolves with every sip. Despite being made without any sulfites, the Savatiano Yellow ages remarkably well in bottle, developing further layers of complexity and proving that natural wine, when made from old vines with impeccable vineyard hygiene and cellar discipline, can achieve a longevity that rivals conventionally produced wines.

The Retsina tradition at Nikolou is not merely preserved but actively evolved — transformed from a folk wine style into a platform for innovation and international recognition. The family's Retsina production begins with the Botanic Base, a Savatiano wine to which a carefully measured amount of pine resin is added, imparting the distinctive aromas of wet pine forest after rain, herbal notes, and a saline freshness that complements the grape's natural citrus character. The Nikolou family uses just the right amount of resin to maintain the beautiful character of the Savatiano grape — the lemon peel and the saltiness remain prominent, the resin functions as an enhancement rather than a mask, and the result is a Retsina of unusual refinement and balance. But the family's true revolutionary achievement is the Botanic Sparkling — the first sparkling Retsina produced using the traditional method, with second fermentation in bottle and ageing on lees. This wine combines the basic Savatiano, the lees-aged complexity of méthode traditionnelle, and the pine resin into a single, unprecedented expression: fine persistent bubbles, delicate pine and masticha aromas, a full-bodied herbal palate, and a long-lasting aftertaste that has no equivalent in the global wine landscape. The Botanic Sparkling represents the Nikolou family's creative genius at its most audacious — a wine that honours two great European traditions while transcending both, that proves Retsina can achieve the elegance and sophistication of Champagne, and that has earned the estate its place among the best wineries in Europe.

The vessel programme at Nikolou is deliberately diverse, reflecting the family's commitment to matching each wine with the container that best expresses its character. The basic Savatiano is fermented and aged in stainless steel, preserving its crisp, fresh, citrus-driven profile — think fresh lemons with a touch of sea salt, green apples, and a herbal dimension that pairs with oily sardines, white meats, and creamy local cheeses like Mizithra. The Savatiano Fine Lees undergoes extended lees ageing, developing a creamy texture and tones of yeast and bread while maintaining the variety's signature freshness. The Savatiano Yellow, the natural orange wine, is fermented with wild yeasts and extended skin contact in neutral vessels, allowing the oxidative, phenolic, and microbial complexities to develop without the imposition of wood or other external characters. The Botanic Sparkling is produced using the traditional method in bottle, with careful riddling and disgorgement to achieve the clarity and bubble persistence that the style demands. The Kodra Recina — the natural version of traditional Retsina — and the Sweet Dream, made from sundried grapes, round out a portfolio that demonstrates the extraordinary range of which Savatiano is capable when treated with the respect, the knowledge, and the creative ambition that six generations of Nikolou family expertise have accumulated. All white and rosé wines are certified as Vegan, reflecting the family's commitment to ethical, sustainable production that respects both the land and the consumer.

To understand Nikolou Winery, one must understand the concept of the Attican voice — a viticultural identity that is distinct from the volcanic wines of Santorini, distinct from the gentle island slopes of Paros, distinct from the river valleys of Nemea or the mountain terraces of Naoussa, and distinct even from the more established appellations of the Peloponnese or Crete. This is the voice of Mesogeia, of the plain that has fed Athens since antiquity, of the bush vines with roots that reach deep into the calcareous subsoil, of the pine forests that have provided resin for Retsina for thousands of years, and of the family that has cultivated Savatiano in the same stone-built house and winery for nearly 150 years. It is a voice of extraordinary historical depth, of a contract from the Kingdom of Greece signed by a prime minister, of phylloxera-resistant replantings that saved the vineyard when all seemed lost, of a chemist and professor of oenology who brought scientific rigour to a traditional cellar, and of a PhD candidate who is pushing the boundaries of what Attican wine can achieve in the 21st century. The Nikolou family has spent six generations refining this voice, learning to translate the specific conditions of Koropi — the calcareous soils, the continental climate, the drought-resistant bush vines, the pine-scented air of the Kodra hills — into wines that speak with clarity, authenticity, and an unmistakable sense of place and purpose. The result is a portfolio that does not imitate Bordeaux or Burgundy, Napa or Barolo, but that stands as a unique expression of a region that has no equivalent in the global wine map — a region where a family has built an estate that combines the methodical precision of chemistry with the radical creativity of letting an indigenous variety speak in seven distinct languages.

The six-generation heritage that the Nikolou family brings to their wines is not merely a matter of longevity; it is a matter of accumulated knowledge, of trial and error, of passing down techniques and intuitions that cannot be learned from books or courses but only from decades of working the same vines, tasting the same wines, and understanding the same landscape through the changing seasons of a lifetime. Vassilios Anastasios Nikolou, the founder, established the contract and the house; Evangelos and Maria, the second generation, replanted after phylloxera and built the tavern relationships; the third generation sustained the family through the mid-20th century's economic and political upheavals; Vassilios the chemist, the fourth generation, brought science and bottling quality to the cellar; the fifth generation consolidated the modernisation and international expansion; and now Evangelos the PhD candidate, the sixth generation, is driving the natural wine experiments, the sparkling Retsina innovation, and the single-varietal focus that defines the contemporary Nikolou identity. Each generation has added its own layer of knowledge, its own response to the challenges of its time, and its own creative contribution to the family's accumulated expertise — and the result is a winery that carries the depth and complexity of 150 years of continuous, unbroken viticultural tradition, expressed through wines that are at once deeply traditional and boldly innovative.

The Savatiano philosophy that guides Nikolou Winery is not a rejection of other varieties or styles but a profound conviction — earned through nearly 150 years of working with the grape — that Savatiano is one of Greece's greatest indigenous varieties, unjustly neglected and misunderstood, and that its full potential can only be revealed through patient, single-varietal cultivation and creative, respectful vinification. The Nikolou family has made Savatiano the centrepiece of their project not because it is easy or commercially obvious — it is neither — but because they know, from six generations of experience, that this drought-resistant, wind-tolerant, deeply rooted bush vine produces grapes of extraordinary complexity when treated with the respect that its history and its terroir demand. The basic Savatiano reveals the variety's crisp, fresh, citrus-herbal character; the Fine Lees version demonstrates its capacity for textural depth and developmental complexity; the Yellow natural wine proves its ability to achieve the aromatic intensity and longevity of the world's great orange wines; the Botanic Base and Kodra Recina honour the ancient Retsina tradition that gave the variety its historical purpose; and the Botanic Sparkling transcends that tradition to create something entirely new. This is not a single wine but a language — a seven-cuvée vocabulary that the Nikolou family has developed to express everything that Savatiano can say, and that proves, beyond any doubt, that the indigenous white grape of Attica deserves a place alongside the world's great varieties.

The future of Nikolou Winery is tied to the deepening of the family's relationship with their Attican terroir — the continued cultivation of their 60-year-old and older bush vines, the refinement of their natural and vegan-certified practices, the development of new cuvées that explore the full range of what Savatiano, Muscat of Alexandria, Mandilaria, and Agiorgitiko can achieve in the calcareous soils of Mesogeia, and the strengthening of their position in the Greek, European, and international markets for quality traditional and natural wine. The estate will remain family-driven — Vassilios and Evangelos continuing to work the vineyards, the cellar, and the distribution networks with the same commitment to single-varietal expression, traditional method innovation, and minimal intervention that has defined the project since its founding, and the next generation growing up in the stone-built winery and the bush-vine vineyards, learning the craft that their ancestors have built from nothing on the Attican plain. The basic Savatiano will continue to express the crisp, fresh, citrus-herbal character of the variety in its purest form; the Fine Lees will continue to develop textural depth through extended lees contact and subtle oak; the Yellow will continue to push the boundaries of natural orange wine from old vines; the Botanic Sparkling will continue to be the world's only traditional-method sparkling Retsina; and the Sweet Dream will continue to capture the opulent, concentrated essence of sundried Savatiano. And the name "Nikolou" — the family name that has adorned the stone-built winery in Koropi since 1875, that has supplied Athenian taverns for over three generations, that has earned the title of Best European Winery, and that represents the accumulated knowledge, passion, and creative vision of six generations — will continue to resonate as a statement of character, a declaration of philosophy, and a promise that every bottle carries the imprint of a specific plain, a specific family, a specific history, and an unwavering commitment to letting the Attican vineyard speak.

In an age of industrial wine production, of chemical agriculture and marketing-driven branding, Nikolou Winery stands as a radical alternative — not because it rejects modernity but because it has chosen a different modernity, one that values six generations of accumulated knowledge over commercial standardisation, old-vine bush-vine Savatiano over international homogenisation, traditional stone-built architecture over industrial facilities, the traditional method over Charmat process, wild yeast fermentation over commercial inoculation, unfiltered natural wine over crystal clarity, vegan certification over animal-derived processing, and the specific voice of a family and a plain over the standardised replication of a global style. The Nikolou family are not merely making wine; they are making a life — a life that bridges 1875 and 2025, the Kingdom of Greece and the European Union, the tavern and the fine dining restaurant, the chemist's laboratory and the natural wine bar, and that proves that the best wines often come not from people who have spent their entire lives in one place but from people who have had the courage to stay in one place for 150 years, to learn from every vintage, to pass down their knowledge through six generations, and to believe that the indigenous white grape of Attica — the Savatiano that has sustained Athens since antiquity — is worthy of the same respect, the same ambition, and the same creative energy that the world lavishes on Chardonnay, on Sauvignon Blanc, on Riesling. The 1875 contract, the 1960 replanting, the 1980 renovation, the 1993 Avros breakthrough, the 2007 cellar, the 2015 Botanic revolution, the 2018 Best European Winery award, the 2020 tasting courtyard upgrade, the six generations of family expertise, the 60-year-old bush vines, the vegan certification, the natural wine philosophy, the sparkling Retsina innovation, and the name that has meant wine in Koropi for nearly a century and a half: all united in one bottle, one estate, one unanswerable argument for the possibility of authentic, place-specific, heritage-rooted, creatively ambitious traditional and natural wine on the sun-baked, wind-swept, historically viticultural plain of Mesogeia.