Kechris family and winery team welcomed over 100 selected guests from the fields of wine, gastronomy, tourism, and media at the 10 year celebration of «Tear of Pine» at Varoulko Seaside restaurant on Tuesday 17th of May, 2016. The event that was powered by Trip2taste showcased Kechris’ winery journey from the «Stereotype of the past to the prototype of the future».
30 years ago retsina was the most common type of Greek wine that was considered a bad quality wine and a lot of times created a bad image for Greek wine. Oenologist Stelios Kechris, third generation of Kechris family visioned the upgrading of the image of Retsina. Enriching tradition with modern technology he created Kechibari, an Apellation by tradition Retsina dry white made by 100% Roditis. 20 years later with the input of the fourth generation, Kechris daughter chemist and oenologist Eleni Kechri, Kechri winery created Tear of the Pine, a modern retsina made of 100% Assyrtico variety. Tear of the Pine is a multi award winning Appellation by tradition white dry white wine that changed the image of Retsina and showed that high quality Retsina has a promising future.
During the first part of the event Master of Wine Konstantinos Lazarakis with a horizontal tasting of five wines showcased the challenges of creating a high quality Retsina taking into account the grape varieties, the quality of the resin and the type and quality of the barrel. At the unique vertical tasting that followed participants with the guidance of Konstantinos Lazarakis MW and Stelios & Eleni Kechi had the opportunity to taste all the vintages of Tear of the pine starting from the current (2015) and going up to the first vintage (2005).
At the second part of the event, that took place at the first floor of the brand new building of Varoulko Seaside restaurant Michelin star chef Lefteris Lazarou revealed the role of retsina as a perfect companion of top quality greek gastonomy though a 5 course tasting menu specialy created for retsina. One of the most touching moments of the event was Dr. Kourakou-Dragona’s speech about the history of retsina and her memories for her battles for the trademark and name of retsina the traditional product of Greece.