Vatistas

Spartan King Leonidas marked Laconia as one of the most significant regions for the Western civilization leading an extremely small army of Greek Soldiers (The 300) to hold off an invading Persian army more than 20 times as large.

Yianni Vatistas, the winemaker and founder of a boutique estate named after him, is devoted to putting Laconia on the world wine map exploring and discovering indigenous grape varietals.

“We replanted many indigenous varieties, hoping to obtain something special, new and different” says Thodoris Vatistas, the son and president of the winery. They have succeeded discovering thus far at least two varieties, Kidonitsa and Petroulianos, that are adored by wine experts. In fact, Yianni Vatistas is one of the few producers in the Peloponnese to have devoted energy to the exploration of some of the cultivars presumed to have comprised the local version of Malvasia some 700 years ago.

Today, as far as the acreage under vine, of these two varieties is considered, Yianni Vatistas is one of the largest winegrowers in Greece. His vineyards are situated at the Valley of Vion and the hillsides of mountain Pantanassa, next to the castle of Monemvasia, where the famous wine Malvazia grape originates. The Vatistas portfolio is a large one consisting mostly of wines made from indigenous varietals, especially white ones, such as Asproudi, Mavroudi, Roditi, Assyrtiko, Athiri, Agiorghitiko, and also of wines made from international varieties or blends of both.