Described by leading Greek Master of Wine Yiannis Karakasis as "one of the stars of Greek winemaking", Apostolos Thymiopoulos is largely responsible for the revolution in quality of - and cult following for - indigenous Naoussa grape variety Xinomavro.
Xinomavro is absolutely one of Greece's world class grapes, capable of creating breathtakingly complex wines, but as a thin skinned, highly tannic variety, it requires extremely careful handling - something at which Thymiopoulos seems particularly deft.
Thymiopoulos' approach in vineyard and cellar probably falls under the label of 'maverick' - but, given the exceptional quality of his wines, it seems more likely that the rest of Naoussa will end up falling in line with Thymiopoulos, rather than the other way round.
