Kir-Yianni

Kir-Yianni was founded in 1997 by its namesake, Yiannis Boutaris, a towering figure in Greek wine (and, until recently, mayor of Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city). Based in Naoussa, its vineyards spread from Naoussa over to Amyndeon, on the western side of Mount Vermion in Greece’s far northwest. At the time Yiannis Boutaris struck out on his own, he was leaving his family’s Boutari Wine Group (founded 1879) in order to focus on a much smaller, quality-focused personal project. Today, the Kir-Yianni team, under the direction of Stelios Boutaris, Yiannis’ son, stands as one of the great producers not just in the northwest, but in all of Greece, and a leading exponent of the increasingly prized Xinomavro variety.