Garalis Winery, Limnos, Aegean Islands

The Garali family started out as viticulturists and turned into winemakers. Their grandparents made their way to the island, which was a destination for refugees, after the Asia Minor Catastrophe of 1922. Refugees were welcomed on Limnos and given land and opportunities. Based around the village of Agios Dimitrios, which has become a viticultural centre where 60% of the island's vineyards can be found, uprooted Greeks cultivated vineyards to make their own wine for their family's consumption, among other farm work and animal husbandry. They began channelling their grapes to the Limnos cooperative in 1984 but Manolis Garali and Maria Markakis dreamt of producing their own wine and in 2000 founded the Garali Winery.  They harvested their first grapes in 2007 in their new, privately owned winery in the rural area of Kourouni in Agios Dimitrios. Over 45-year-old vines of both Muscat of Alexandria and Limnio varieties are cultivated organically and used to produce low-intervention white, orange and red wines.