Da Terra's head sommelier on the long history of Greek wine

Maria Boumpa, head sommelier at two-Michelin-starred Da Terra in London, on the long history of Greek wine, from retsina to 50 Great Greek Wines

Wine has always been part of the Greek philosophy of life – not only as a drink, but also as part of religion and a means to lift everyday life out of the ordinary.

It is thought that the Greeks started to produce wine in the second millennium BC, moving from Minoan Crete to Santorini and the Greek mainland. As a means of colonisation, the vine was introduced by the Greeks to Sicily and mainland Italy in the 8th century BC before reaching Marseille in France and spreading across the Mediterranean.

During the Roman and Byzantine empires, heavy taxation was imposed and access to foreign markets restricted, while the Turks destroyed most of the cultivated land by 1821. But by the end of 19th century, when phylloxera devastated the French vineyard, exports of the dried Corinthiaki raisins to France increased.

Back then, Greek wine was mostly produced in bulk using primitive methods, resulting in very oxidative styles. The only way to make them palatable was to add pine resin, which is how retsina was born.

Visionaries like Stavroula Kourakou-Dragona and Evangelos Averoff championed Greek wine and set the path for the big rush in the 1980s, which is when viticulture became the most prestigious form of agriculture and the revolution of small producers began.

But the milestone for the Greek wine revolution was the fine dining culture of the 1990s. Restaurants had a more creative approach, with sommeliers an integral part in establishing wine service and in introducing new grape varieties and appellations.

With the financial crisis in 2010, the only viable solution to save the wine industry was to export to foreign markets. Today, with the rise of wine bars across Greece, the profile of bottled wine is elevated once again, as wine by the glass has become available at more affordable prices.

Leaders within the Greek wine industry today include Konstantinos Lazarakis, who initiated wine education in Greece, and Yiannis Karakasis, who created the list of 50 Great Greek Wines, a tool to showcase the quality of Greek wines for export.

With more than 200 indigenous grape varieties and styles, ranging from the sweet Muscat of Samos to Vinsanto from Santorini, different expressions of Assyrtiko, tannic Xinomavro, multi-faced Agiorgitiko or rare Mouchtaro, it would be unfair not to introduce our guests at Da Terra to them, proudly pairing our signature fish stew, Moqueca, with a racy, mineral and smoky Assyrtiko from Santorini.