The estate is owned by two men, engineers by profession, Yiannis Papadopoulos and Yiannis Kalaitzidis.

Their history dates back to 1993, when Yiannis Papadopoulos revived, as a hobby and to satisfy a personal enthusiasm, an old family vineyard in Mikrochori, near Drama. Two years later, Yiannis Kalaitzidis joined the venture. The result was “Wine Art” Estate and the first range of products, “Techni Alipias”, a red, a white and a rosé wine, were introduced and immediately gained their share of the quality wines market. “Wine Art” aims to present how well certain Greek and cosmopolitan varieties are adapted to the microclimate of Drama. Towards this direction, a new wine, ” Idisma Drios” Chardonnay was put to market in This was the first of a new range of single-varietal wines, “Idisma Drios” (“sweetly oaked”), to be followed by Assyrtiko, Merlot and Syrah. 2011 was the first vintage for “Techni” Malagousia and ‘Techni’ Assyrtiko, while the latest additions were the red “Touriga Nacional” and the rosé “Pink Bang” both produced from the famous Portuguese variety. In great vintages the Estate also vinifies a limited quantity of Nebbiolo (Nebbio).

The vineyards

The Wine Art Estate vineyards at Mikrochori overlook Mount Pangaion, in antiquity home of the cult of Dionysus and the Orphic mysteries.

The vineyards were planted on carefully chosen south-facing slopes, well protected against late frosts. The soil is mainly sandy-clay, suitable for the cultivation of the Greek and foreign varieties planted and ideal for the development of their characteristics.

The French grape varieties Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, the Italian varieties Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, the Portuguese variety Touriga Nacional and the indigenous varieties Assyrtiko, Agiorgitiko, Lemiona are carefully tended, to ensure top quality fruit.

Wine Art Estate has currently 16 hectares of vineyards. Another 10 hectares are being planted since the beginning of 2009, at K.Vrisi, a location known since ancient times for the cultivation of the vine and the production of wines, as indicated by the ruins of a Sanctuary of Dionysus.

The winery

The elegant modern winery of Wine Art Estate is located on the outskirts of the village of Mikrochori.

The first section of the establishment was built in 1998 and in 2007 an adjacent building was built on the other side of the road.

The construction work was completed in 2008 and the winery is now housed in a complex of two handsome buildings, while the two “towers” that mark the edge of both buildings prove architectural aesthetics and harmony.

The two sections of the winery are connected by an underground tunnel, which houses the cellars. With a covered area of 3000 m², both on the ground and underground, it has a production capacity of 300.000 bottles.

The functional, spacious production area was designed specifically for the new building. It houses the state-of-the-art equipment for the production of quality wines: heat exchangers to chill the destemmed grapes, pneumatic press, special vats for skin contact maceration of white and red grapes, stainless steel fermentation tanks with automated temperature control systems, cold room for white wine fermentation and ageing in oak barrels, oak fermentation vats for the vinification of certain red wines, and stabilisation tanks.

A computerised central control system constantly monitors the entire production process (fermentation and maturation temperatures, pumping, etc.), intervening automatically and generating a record of each fermentation tank.

All of the Estate’s red wines and some of the whites are then transferred to the underground cellars for the next stage of their development. Here, in stable temperature and humidity conditions, maintained by a climate control system, in hundreds of French oak barrels, the wines age before being bottled.