In the late 1950s, Evangelos Averoff planted the first Cabernet Sauvignon vines in Greece, on the steep slopes of Mount Pindus. In his home cellar at Metsovo, he bottled the first vintage what would become famous as the Katogi Averoff wines.
“Vines of France on the mountains of Greece…,” proudly read the label he lovingly designed for that first wine. Yet, it turned out to be more than a hobby. Averoff’s vision to replant and transform the abandoned slopes of the Pindus into vineyards as well as revive the indigenous vinicultural tradition that flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries formed part of a far-reaching effort to boost economic and cultural development in the region.
