Mount Olympus is calling!

Mount Olympus? The Aegean Sea? History and culture going back thousands and thousands of years? Wine that’s fit for the gods?

That’s what we’re talking about in my conversation with Alexandra Anthidou, who is the Director of Marketing and Communications for the Association of Northern Greek Winemakers.

Alexandra has what many would see as a dream job – she gets to travel to over 30 wineries in her region of Northern Greece, she travels to many countries representing her association, she works with winemakers and world-class chefs to create mouth-watering meals and tasting events that would make travelling to Greece worthwhile just for an event alone!

It’s obvious that Alexandra has great respect for the vine, the grape, and the wine-making process – find out more about her day, her month and her journey here at Wine Behind the Scenes.

What you will learn from this episode:

• Discover exciting and fun-filled wine-related events and activities you can organize for any occasion and celebration.
• Learn how to create a delectable food menu with wine tasting.
• Find out why each bottle of wine differs from another and what experience it speaks of every time you taste it.
• Know about the exciting events, fun-filled activities, travels, occasions, and celebrations that can fill your everyday schedule to promote the wine and a place’s culture.
• Hear fascinating stories of gorgeous Greek places, great and beautiful wineries, grape varieties, and cherished experiences with wine.

Alexandra Anthidou was born (1965) in Thessaloniki, the 2nd largest city in Greece, located in Macedonia, in Northern Greece. It’s a beautiful seaside town, full of history (2.330 years old), overlooking Mountain Olympus.

She was always active, creative, and dreamy, passionate about everything she was involved. And she’s never changed!

In the wine industry, she had been working indirectly since 1987 but directly since 2001 when she got a job in the association “Winemakers of Northern Greece” as director of marketing and communication.

Her job is to constantly invent new ways to promote wine, mainly as a product of culture and through a series of different actions, like wine exhibitions, thematic wine tastings, wine and dine events, educational seminars, wine tourism projects, articles, and interviews.

She is also a free launcher food and wine writer.

She is fascinated by the wine industry and she believes that wine is a living organism that evolves.

One of her favorite things to do, and part of her job (fortunately), is to visit wineries. Even if she has visited the same winery many times, each time is special, each time has something different to give her. And definitely, the wine is different. Because if it is aged, it grows, if it is fresh, well, each vintage is different.

Her other favorite hobby is the food and wine pairing game. Each pairing is a window to the universe of flavors, taste, and pleasure.

She also very much likes to travel (travels include wine tourism, if possible), swim (all year long), cook, and enjoy parties or dinners with family and friends.

To make the long story short, she is a happy mother of two grown daughters and honored to consider herself a wine lady and a life lover.

Get in touch with Alexandra Anthidou:

• Email Ad: a.anthidou@gmail.com pr@winemakersofnorthgreece.gr
• Website (Winemakers of North Greece): www.winemakersofnorthgreece.gr

Topics Covered:

01:15 – Which beautiful Greek city does she live in?

02:11 – Sharing interesting facts about the city, beautiful people, and the remarkable wineries surrounding the city where she lives

03:12 – Talking about her involvement and affiliation with the Greek wine industry

06:01 – Always welcoming every day with great pleasure

06:443 – Interesting subject she talks about: great wineries and places, grape vineyards, and exciting activities to do

07:50 – Look at how her month-long schedule is filled with exciting and amazing events and activities

10:10 – Coming up with creative ideas to organize events for any occasion and celebrations

12:12 – How come the Greek wine industry is still in its infancy stage despite its 7,000 years of history?

14:55 – Coming up with a great food menu that goes with the best wine

17:18 – The challenge with organizing events and fixing the food menu to match the right wine

18:35 – Going back to the time she started to get involved with the wine industry

19:47 – The first thing she learns about wine

20:52 – How come each bottle of wine is different from the others, and all else in the wine world

22:05 – Amazing facts about wine, its characteristics, and the experience with it

23:44 – What she would tell someone wanting to follow her path

24:21 – Talking to Alexandra of years ago, when she just started

25:07 – The importance of enjoying the journey

Quotes from Alexandra Anthidou:

“My job is to create, to invent new ways to promote wine, not as a product, but as a product of culture.”

“Every day is a new challenge, the beginning of a new challenge for me. And that’s why I have never been bored.”

“One day I woke up, I said, okay, we have to invent a special day for our special grape variety.”

“We know that we have a wine history of about 7,000 years. “

“They were talking about wine with great respect. That was my very first feeling that I had for wine, the respect.”