Lipsi sits between Patmos and Leros in the Dodecanese, smaller and quieter than either. It is the kind of island people describe as unspoiled, or as the “real Greece.” About 800 people live here, and life still runs on tradition. But up a steep hill, above the bay and the Aegean beyond, a vineyard and winery is producing award-winning wine good enough to have been poured for a king.
The Nico Grylli Winery has been in the family for four generations. For most of that time the Grylli family tended the vines for love; the winery has been commercial only since 2013.
Sally Vavoulas, the British wife of co-founder Manolis Vavoulas, often leads the tours and tastings. The family, she explains, wanted a winery in keeping with the island. “Although we have a modern tank room and the modern bottling room, we wanted the barrel room to be in the style of the island. So we used old Lipsi stone for the walls and we used the traditional way of making our ceiling with wood from small trees grown in the north of the island. The only difference is old Lipsi houses would have insulated their ceilings with dried seaweed, which you can still find in houses on Lipsi today.”
The estate’s 45 acres of vines are scattered across the island, but the winery itself holds the prime spot among the vines on the hill. At first glance it is modest and quiet, like the island. The wines are anything but: fine, precise and worth shouting about.
Four grapes, one star
The winery grows four varieties that it says express the character of the place: Fokiano, Athiri, Syrah and Assyrtiko. From them come two still whites, a rosé, a red and a dessert wine. It is the dessert wine that made the name.
In March 2021, the then Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall were guests of honor at a state banquet at the Presidential Mansion in Athens, hosted by President Katerina Sakellaropoulou to mark the bicentennial of the Greek War of Independence. Among the wines poured that night was Aposperitis, the winery’s dessert wine, selected for the occasion.
It is a full-flavored dessert wine without being cloying, layered with honey, dried fruit and caramel, and it shows real attention to detail. “We use oak barrels,” says Sally. “They are very expensive barrels, but we can re-use them again and again, so it’s worth it.”
As a boutique producer on a small island, the winery does not export beyond Greece. Look for its bottles the next time you are in Athens, or make the trip to Lipsi itself. Like those barrels, it’s worth it.
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