Robola – PDO Robola of Cephalonia

Panos Sarris is a young sommelier / winemaker, who took over his family’s old vineyards in Kefalonia island, and followed his ultimate passion; winemaking.

His vineyards in Avithos are planted with the historical and highly praised Robola grape, and sitting on poor limestone gravel, at an altitude of 800m. The vines are 40 years old and ungrafted.

Panos’ wines are wild fermented, unfiltered, and unfined, using foot stomping and various neutral oak barrels, to give his wines the raw maritime character that reflects the island of Kefalonia. Panos produces some of the crunchiest and most idiosyncratic wines we have tasted.

Kefalonia is the largest island of the Ionian sea. Famous for its exotic beaches and untouched nature, Kefalonia is the island where “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” was filmed, showing the world all its beauty. Kefalonia has an indented coastlines, made up of limestone cliffs, bays, and short strips of white sand. Some of its best known beaches are Myrtos, Fteri, Dafnoudi, and Kimilia. The caves of Melissani and Drogarati are also quite unique.

Kefalonia is a mountainous island, with a rugged topography and little arable land (less than 15%). It has a long history of winemaking, and is famous for the Robola grape, which is considered the ancestor of the Ribola Gialla grape found farther up North, across the Adriatic coast.