The Tsantali company makes a couple of wines on the slopes of Mount Athos.

They are using the vineyards owned by the Russian monastery Panteleimon, called Chromitsa. The slopes are not far from the Athos border and if you look closely from Ouranopolis, you can see the wineranks and the buildings. In former days Chromitsa was the hospital for (Russian) monks.

This is the story about how it all begun:

Over a hundred years ago, the Tsantali family began making wines. Evangelos Tsantalis founded the company out of deep respect for the beauty of the land and a strong commitment to quality. In 1971, in the middle of a storm, Evangelos Tsantalis sought refuge among the monks at the domain of Chromitsa. There he saw a vineyard that the monks did not tend any more. Tsantalis offered his help in tending the unique vineyard, if he was also allowed to make wine for himself. The monks agreed to this historical step and the Mount Athos wine thus came to the ‘outside world’. Mount Athos is a unique place of great natural beauty, a monastic community dedicated to prayer, obedience and meditation. Here lie in steep, impervious rocks and hills 20 monasteries and 12 monastic villages of Christian Orthodox monks. Wine has always been an integral part of life on Mount Athos and vine cultivation one of the most important occupations of the monks. For more than 1,000 years, the harvest has been a ceremony. It was the beginning of a notable winemaking tradition that has lasted throughout the centuries and made the Mount Athos wine renowned. The vineyards are laid out in terrace form up to a height of 250 m.

The first part is published in 821: part 3 will follow soon.

Wim, 23/6