The Chatzivaritis Estate is a family-owned boutique winery situated in the well-known PDO zone Goumenissa, in the north part of Greece. It all started with love, when Vangelis Chatzivaritis met his soon to be wife, Olga Iakovidou- who was from Goumenissa. The plantation of the first vineyard was done by Vangelis in 1994, getting an organic certification since the first ever plantation. In 2007, a wonderful “boutique” winery was built in the parcel of Filyria, producing organic wines at first. Today the vineyard of the Estate consists of 18 hectares, focusing on the Greek varieties of Xinomavro, Negoska, Roditis, Malagousia, Muscat and Assyrtiko, and also cultivating some international varieties in smaller surfaces. The climate in the region is continental with plenty of rainfall in winter and hot, dry summer with cool nights. The main wind in the area is Vardaris, a strong, dry, and cold northwest wind that blows along the valley of the Axios river. The altitude of the parcels varies from 270m up to 700m. Small tractors are being used in an effort to minimize soil erosion and promote the microbiological health of the soil. In 2017, the daughter of Vangelis and Olga - Chloi - decided to return to Greece after studying oenology in France and Portugal and having worked in various wineries in France, New Zealand, Argentina, and Chile. When she returned, she brought with her her passion and experience for low intervention wines and immediately started making a new range of wines without interventions and experimenting with new wine making techniques, such as amphora wine, carbonic maceration and petnat. She produces wines only from Greek varieties, focusing mainly on the undiscovered indigenous variety of Goumenissa, Negoska. She doesn’t use any enological products, in an effort to promote the terroir characteristics and help the varieties express their full potential for each harvest. The grapes are handpicked, very carefully selected, following wild fermentations and the final wine stays unfined and unfiltered. Only a very small amount of sulfur is added just before bottling, since the wines travel long distances to reach countries very far away from Greece under uncontrolled transport conditions. The philosophy behind this winemaking choice is that every harvest is different and unique, and this should be portrayed on the final wine. Chloi tries to make correct and elegant wines, wanting to prove that low intervention wines don’t need to be faulty or funky. They can be enjoyable, exciting, tasty, and more importantly honest. In 2021, the Chatzivaritis Estate started an effort to go beyond organic viticulture, reducing the already low treatments and trying to promote even more the biodiversity and soil fertility. The plan is to turn in biodynamic viticulture in 3 years’ time, giving the time to the workers to fully understand this practice, accept it and love it.