Master Classes!

The 2019 Wine Show also presented 4 master classes for professionals and interested wine lovers:

Raw Diamonds of the Greek Vineyard, with Nico Manessis

A rare opportunity to sample the emerging and lesser-known varieties of islands and mainland. Nikos Manessis’s insightful travel stories will help you understand their potential and get started on the next chapter of modern Greek wines!

Niko Manessis has devoted the last 20 years of his life to the study and promotion of Greek wine as a journalist, lecturer and author. His professional life started in the hotel business, after studies in London, but his life changed dramatically when he accidentally met up with a bottle of 1967 Barolo in Italy.

Since then he travels around the world discovering the magical world of wine. The chapter of his life dedicated to Greek wine could be titled “Adventures in the Greek Vineyard or How to Make My Life Difficult.”

Niko Manessis holds the seat for Greece and Cyprus at the Decanter World Wine Awards, is a member of the Academie Internationale du Vin, teaches wine schools in France, Switzerland and Greece and writes feverishly for his blog, Greek Wine World.

Speaker: Nico Manessis
Author | Greek Wine Expert
Seminar fee: 20 euros, with pre registration only

Blind Tasting – Taste The Difference

There may be no bad way to enjoy a glass of wine, but there is an ideal. Six of the most popular Greek varieties are tasted and seek their match in six different glasses.

Aris Sklavenitis holds a degree in oenology, is a sommelier certified by the World Oenologists Association and the Court of Master Sommeliers, and a student in the Wine & Sommelier Expert Course & WSET lvl 4 Diploma.

He is also Vice-President of the Panhellenic Union of Winemakers, Head of Wine Purchasing at the Gastronomos Store and Ambassador Sommelier of Bodega Krontiras Winery and Gaggenau. He writes articles for several Kathimerini magazines, is a lecturer at the Graduate School of Agriculture, Genius in Gastronomy and Head Sommelier and co-owner of the Oinoscent Wine & Food Cellar.

He has been recognized as the Best Greek Sommelier for 2016 & 2019, winning the Panhellenic Competition and will represent our country at the World Sommelier Competition in 2022.

Speaker: Aris Sclavenitis
Certified sommelier | Oenologist
Seminar fee: 20 euros, with pre registration only

Old Vineyards, Better Wines? with Yiannis Karakasis MW

There is a widespread belief in the wine industry that old vines produce higher quality wines. Surprisingly, however, many of the legendary wines of our time have been produced from new vines rather than old ones, such as the 1973 Chateau Montelena (first place in the famous Paris competition). How does that happen and what is the explanation? The class includes a tasting of 10 wines from vines older than 30 years.

Yiannis Karakasis MW (Master of Wine) is one of only 384 Masters of Wine in the world, a title considered to be the top in the wine industry. He writes about wine, advises and trains while judging the most important wine competition in the world, the Decanter World Wine Awards.

He is the founder of the blog karakasis.mw the only wine blog in Greece that communicates Greek wine on a weekly basis in both Greek and English with only original content.

He has authored two books so far: the e-book The Wines and Vineyards of Greece -2017 and Natural Wines in Greece. You can read his full resume here https://www.karakasis.mw/about-me

Speaker: Yiannis Karakasis MW
Master of Wine
Seminar fee: 20 euros, with pre registration only

Breaking The Rules, with Grigoris Michailos DipWSET

Are you among those who believe that whites wines do not age? That rosé wines are to be drunk fresh and never pass through a barrel? That international varieties can’t deliver great wines in Greece and so much more? Grigoris Michailos, a WSET Diploma graduate, delves into the cellars of small winemakers and chooses outstanding wines to enjoy with you – wines that challenge some of these ideas and preconceptions. A presentation that aims to leave you with more questions than you had to begin with.

Grigoris Michailos is one of the first three graduates of WSET in Greece, with four scholarships as an excellent student while his diploma was awarded with honors.

Since then he has been regularly writing in and outside Greece, is a wine consultant and lecturer at WSET, while promoting Greek wine abroad. He found absolute wine happiness in a 1990 bottle of Margaux and since then many small, daily pleasures tasting the diamonds of Greek and international vineyards.

Join us for the 2020 Wine Show, February 9-10, 2020 at The HUB Events in Athens!

Speaker: Grigoris Michailos
Dip WSET
Seminar fee: 20 euros, with pre registration only