From the atlas
Boutari
Family-founded domaine based in Naoussa since 1879, credited with preserving Xinomavro when the grape had nearly vanished, and with producing one of the first bottled Greek red wines in 1906.
At A Glance
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| Region | Macedonia (Naoussa) and pan-Hellenic estates |
| Appellations | Naoussa PDO, Nemea, Mantinia |
| Main grapes | Xinomavro (red), Moschofilero (white), Agiorgitiko (red) |
| Signature wine | Naoussa Boutari |
| Defining feature | Founded 1879; bottled one of the first Greek red PDO wines in 1906 |
The Producer
In 1879, Ioannis Boutaris set up a cellar in Naoussa, a town in the hills of Macedonia in northern Greece, with the intention of making and trading quality red wine from the local Xinomavro grape. At the time, Xinomavro had nearly disappeared from the vineyards around the town. Boutaris backed the variety anyway. Twenty-seven years later, in 1906, the family produced and bottled Naoussa Boutari, among the first Greek red wines sold in bottled form on the domestic market.
The estate has grown far beyond that single cellar. Boutari now operates across several of Greece's key winemaking regions, producing red and white wines from varieties that include Xinomavro in Naoussa and Goumenissa, Agiorgitiko in Nemea, and Moschofilero in Mantinia. Konstantinos Boutaris, grandson of the founder, leads the family business today.
Place
Naoussa sits in Macedonia, in the northern Greek interior, where Xinomavro ripens slowly in a continental climate cooled by altitude and mountain air from the Vermio range. The grape needs this slower growing season: it holds high acidity and builds firm tannin, and without the cooler temperatures it would lose the freshness that keeps those qualities balanced.
The wider portfolio takes Boutari into different terrain. Nemea, in the Peloponnese, is Agiorgitiko country, with a warmer, more southerly character. Mantinia sits on a high plateau in Arcadia, where the elevation keeps Moschofilero cool and aromatic. Each region produces a distinct wine, and Boutari's estates are spread to match that variety.
Soil And Site
Naoussa's vineyards occupy the foothills of Mount Vermio, with soils that mix clay and limestone at altitude. The combination gives the vines good drainage while retaining enough mineral content to feed the slow, structured ripening that Xinomavro demands. Vines at the Naoussa estate average between 30 and 50 years old, deep-rooted enough to draw from the subsoil through the long growing season.
The elevated sites across the broader Greek portfolio, from Mantinia's high plateau to the Peloponnese hills around Nemea, reflect a consistent logic: Boutari's estates seek altitude and cooler air to preserve acidity and aromatic freshness across very different grape varieties.
Story
The first decades at Naoussa were focused on making Xinomavro commercially viable. In 1906, the family committed to bottled wine at a moment when most Greek producers sold in bulk, and the result, Naoussa Boutari, became one of the first Greek red PDO wines to reach the domestic market in bottle. That step had consequences for the variety itself: it gave Xinomavro a commercial form and a label, and helped secure its place in the Naoussa landscape at a time when it had almost been entirely abandoned.
The twentieth century brought expansion. A modern winery and bottling unit opened in Naoussa in 1978, giving the company the capacity to scale production without losing control of the winemaking. Boutari then moved into other Greek regions over the following two decades, each expansion tied to a specific appellation and a specific grape: Attica in 1980, Goumenissa in 1984, Santorini in 1989, and Mantinia in 1991, where the family bought back the Kampas winery to establish an estate for Moschofilero. In 2004, the company added a vineyard and winery in Skalani, Crete. Each of these moves brought a new appellation grape into the portfolio, so the range widened geographically and varietally at the same time. In 2006, Boutari extended beyond Greece with the purchase of Domaine de Mayrac, a 700-acre organically farmed vineyard estate in southern France.
Vineyards And Cellar
At Naoussa, the Xinomavro is sourced from vines averaging 30 to 50 years old. Extraction is handled gently: the grapes undergo a maceration of 7 to 10 days with minimal intervention, and no pressing takes place. The wine runs free from the skins without mechanical force. After fermentation, the wine is aged for 12 months in older French oak barrels, fifth and sixth use, which contribute very little new oak flavour but allow slow oxidation and the gradual softening of tannin. The wine carries firm grip and body without the overlay of heavy oak seasoning.
The French estate, Domaine de Mayrac, operates under organic cultivation, a farming approach that contrasts with the largely conventional viticulture of the Greek estates. Each regional site within the portfolio is managed as its own unit, adapted to the grape and climate of its appellation.
Wines
Naoussa Boutari is the centrepiece of the range, built on 100% Xinomavro from old vines in the northern Greek hills. Xinomavro gives deep colour that fades toward garnet with age, firm acid that holds across decades, and a tannin profile closer to the northern Italian reds than to the softer grape varieties of the southern Mediterranean. The wine is made for the table and for time.
Nemea Boutari draws on Agiorgitiko, a grape that produces richer, darker red fruit with softer tannin than Xinomavro, making it more approachable in its early years. Moschofilero Boutari comes from Mantinia, a high-altitude PDO appellation in Arcadia where the grape produces dry, aromatic white wine with floral notes and lively acidity. The range also includes a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Chardonnay, wines without a PDO designation that show the pan-Hellenic breadth of the portfolio.
In The Glass
Naoussa Boutari opens with red and dark fruit, dried herbs, and a savouriness that is particular to Xinomavro: something between olive tapenade and dried tomato skin, alongside the red cherry and rose petal that the grape can show when acidity is high. On the palate, the tannin is firm and gripping, the acidity bright and persistent, and the body full. With bottle age, the colour shifts toward garnet and the tannin integrates, but the acid stays lively. These are wines that need food.
Moschofilero Boutari from Mantinia is the other wine worth pausing on: dry, light in body, with citrus blossom and white peach aromas and a clean, acidic finish driven by altitude rather than oak or residual sweetness.
A Bottle To Understand It
Naoussa Boutari is the first bottle to choose. It is 100% Xinomavro from Naoussa, fermented with minimal intervention and aged 12 months in older French oak. The wine opens with dried herb, red fruit and that particular savoury note of Xinomavro; the palate brings firm tannin, high acidity and a full body that wants a plate of food beside it. Pour it young with something rich, or hold it: the acidity will keep it moving for years, and the tannin softens into something more integrated without losing its grip.
Anecdote
In 1879, Ioannis Boutaris founded his Naoussa cellar with a grape that had nearly disappeared from the local vineyards. Xinomavro was difficult: high acid, high tannin, slow to ripen, and not easy to sell in bulk alongside the rounder reds that were more commercially comfortable. Boutaris committed to it anyway. By 1906, the family had taken the further step of bottling the wine under a label and putting it into the Greek market as Naoussa Boutari, one of the first Greek red wines sold in bottle. The label named the town and the producer together, a combination that gave Xinomavro a concrete commercial form at a moment when it might otherwise have continued to fade.
Final Word
Boutari built its first century around one difficult grape in one northern Greek town, and Naoussa Boutari is still the wine that anchors the range. The wider portfolio, spread across appellations from Macedonia to Crete, carries that same logic: distinct places, distinct grapes, made to show where they come from.
Sources
- https://boutari.gr/en/
- https://winesofgreece.org/wineries/boutari-naoussa/
- https://boutinot.com/producers/boutari-wines/
- https://www.greeceandgrapes.com/en/wineries/boutari