Kir-Yianni

Kir-Yianni was founded in 1997 by Yiannis Boutaris, the long-standing Boutari family member who departed the historic family company a year before founding his own estate in Yianakohori. His grandfather had founded Boutari in Naoussa in 1879, and Yiannis had spent his career inside the family business before stepping away to plant his own vines on the eastern foothills of Mount Vermio. The new project took its name from the customary Greek form of address for the founder ('Kir' meaning 'Sir', so 'Kir-Yianni' is 'Sir Yianni'), and the first vintage was vinified entirely in the newly built winery within the Yianakohori estate in 1997. Stellios Boutaris, Yiannis's son and the family's fifth generation in wine, joined shortly after founding and took operational leadership of the project in 2004. Through the late 1990s and 2000s the estate established itself as the leading modern voice of Naoussa Xinomavro, with the flagship Ramnista bottling becoming the project's structural reference. Yiannis Boutaris died in November 2024 at the age of 82, leaving Stellios as the steward of one of Greece's most influential modern wine projects.

• Founded 1997 by Yiannis Boutaris in Yianakohori on the Vermio foothills, a year after departing the Boutari family company that his grandfather had founded in Naoussa in 1879.
• The name 'Kir-Yianni' is the customary Greek form of address for the founder ('Kir' meaning 'Sir', so 'Sir Yianni'), used by his Naoussa peers throughout his career.
• Stellios Boutaris (Yiannis's son and the family's fifth generation in wine) joined the project shortly after founding and took operational leadership in 2004.
• Yiannis Boutaris died in November 2024 at the age of 82; Stellios continues as the project's steward and the principal voice of the modern Naoussa Xinomavro identity.

Kir-Yianni works approximately 85 hectares of vineyards split between two of northern Greece's leading appellations for Xinomavro, with the original Yianakohori plantings in Naoussa as the project's structural anchor and the Amyndeon vineyards as the cooler high-altitude counterpoint. Yianakohori sits on the eastern foothills of Mount Vermio at the southeastern edge of the Naoussa PDO, on clay-limestone soils with the protective rain-shadow continental climate that defines the appellation; Yiannis Boutaris originally planted 40 hectares of Xinomavro on these slopes in the mid-1990s, and the estate has continued to expand its Naoussa holdings since. Amyndeon (also Amyndaio or Amyndeo) lies further west on the high plateau between four lakes in the Florina prefecture, with vineyards at 620 to 720 metres of elevation on lighter sandy and gravel soils, the Greek wine industry's only cool-climate viticultural zone, governed by the moderating influence of the surrounding lakes and the colder continental winters. The two-appellation architecture lets the estate work Xinomavro across a meaningful stylistic spectrum: the Yianakohori Naoussa fruit produces the structurally weighted Ramnista, Cuvée Villages, Yianakohori Hills, and Diaporos cuvées, while the Amyndeon high-altitude fruit produces the rosé and sparkling Akakies, the old-vine Kali Riza, and the Samaropetra white from international and indigenous varieties. Both appellations rely on the same Xinomavro grape but produce distinct expressions through the contrast between Naoussa's warmer clay-limestone footprint and Amyndeon's higher-elevation continental cool.

• Roughly 85 hectares total across Naoussa (Yianakohori vineyards on the eastern foothills of Mount Vermio) and Amyndeon (high plateau between four lakes in Florina prefecture at 620 to 720 metres).
• Yianakohori clay-limestone soils on the southeastern edge of the Naoussa PDO produce structurally weighted Xinomavro for Ramnista, Cuvée Villages, Yianakohori Hills, and the single-vineyard Diaporos.
• Amyndeon high-altitude sandy and gravel soils produce cooler-profile Xinomavro for the sparkling rosé Akakies and the old-vine Kali Riza, plus the Samaropetra white.
• Yiannis Boutaris originally planted 40 hectares of Xinomavro at Yianakohori in the mid-1990s; the Naoussa and Amyndeon holdings have expanded incrementally to the current 85 hectares since.

Vineyard practice at Kir-Yianni runs through Integrated Pest Management with careful pest-and-natural-enemy monitoring, beneficial-insect cover crops between rows, and balanced canopy work through pruning and green harvesting; the estate is not certified organic or biodynamic but operates the careful sustainability discipline that has made it a recognized Greek environmental leader. In 2024 Kir-Yianni became the first Greek winery to join the International Wineries for Climate Action (IWCA) initiative, a global producer alliance committed to net-zero carbon emissions across the industry; the IWCA membership formalized a sustainability arc that the estate had been building through the 2010s and 2020s. The cellar approach is similarly disciplined: Ramnista ferments in 5,000-litre wooden vats and ages in French oak (a portion of new and a portion of older oak) for the structurally weighted Naoussa profile, while the higher-tier Diaporos and Yianakohori Hills cuvées see longer barrel time and more precise oak selection. Akakies sparkling rosé is produced via the Charmat (tank) method to preserve the bright cherry-and-strawberry fruit profile of Amyndeon Xinomavro at altitude, and the Samaropetra and Kali Riza work through stainless and oak regimes appropriate to each cuvée's intended style. The combined viticultural and cellar discipline has produced the modern reference for Naoussa Xinomavro under Stellios's leadership: Ramnista has remained the project's structural anchor for nearly thirty vintages, while Diaporos has served as the higher-register single-vineyard expression.

• Integrated Pest Management with beneficial-insect cover crops, careful canopy work, and balanced pruning; not organic-certified or biodynamic but a recognized Greek environmental leader.
• First Greek IWCA member in 2024 (International Wineries for Climate Action), the global producer alliance committed to net-zero carbon emissions across the industry.
• Ramnista ferments in 5,000-litre wooden vats and ages in a French oak regime mixing new and older barrels for the structurally weighted Naoussa profile.
• Akakies sparkling rosé uses the Charmat tank method to preserve bright Xinomavro cherry-and-strawberry fruit; higher-tier Diaporos and Yianakohori Hills see longer, more precise oak selection.

The Kir-Yianni cuvée portfolio reads as the project's working hierarchy of Xinomavro and adjacent expressions across the two appellations, with Ramnista as the structural reference and Diaporos as the single-vineyard apex. Ramnista is 100 percent Xinomavro from Yianakohori, the first wine ever produced by the estate (1997 vintage), fermented in 5,000-litre wooden vats and aged in French oak for the structurally weighted Naoussa profile that has defined the project for nearly thirty vintages. Diaporos is the project's single-vineyard apex, drawn from the Diaporos parcel within the Yianakohori holdings and bottled as Xinomavro with a small portion of Syrah; the wine reads as the estate's most concentrated expression with darker fruit, smoky-flinty mineral character, and longer cellaring potential than the structurally weighted Ramnista. Naoussa Cuvée Villages sits between Ramnista accessibility and Diaporos depth, drawing across the Naoussa parcels at the village-tier register; the 2022 vintage took Gold (95 points) at the 2025 Decanter World Wine Awards and the 2021 vintage took Silver at DWWA 2024. Yianakohori Hills is the single-vineyard cuvée from the Yianakohori site that anchors the estate, sitting in the upper-tier register alongside Diaporos. Akakies is the sparkling rosé from Amyndeon Xinomavro produced via the Charmat method, the estate's gateway wine and a Greek market reference for sparkling rosé. Kali Riza ('good root') is the old-vine Amyndeon Xinomavro from 40 to 60 year old pre-phylloxera vines, the estate's most distinctive Amyndeon expression with raw textural energy from the ungrafted vine character.

• Ramnista is 100 percent Yianakohori Xinomavro, the project's first wine (1997), fermented in 5,000-litre wooden vats and the structural reference for the entire Kir-Yianni portfolio.
• Diaporos is the single-vineyard apex from the Diaporos parcel: Xinomavro with a small Syrah component; the estate's most concentrated and longest-cellaring cuvée.
• Naoussa Cuvée Villages took Gold (95 points) for the 2022 vintage at DWWA 2025 and Silver for the 2021 vintage at DWWA 2024; the village-tier between Ramnista and Diaporos.
• Akakies sparkling rosé (Charmat method, Amyndeon Xinomavro) is the gateway wine; Kali Riza is old-vine Amyndeon Xinomavro from 40 to 60 year old pre-phylloxera vines.

Stellios Boutaris took operational leadership of Kir-Yianni in 2004 and has steered the project through three decades of growing international recognition, building the export footprint to 54 countries and establishing the estate as one of the most-cited modern Greek references in international wine media. The Decanter World Wine Awards record runs the depth of the project: Diaporos 2019 took Gold at DWWA 2024 as one of the three highest-scoring Greek reds in the competition; Cuvée Villages 2021 took Silver in the same year; Cuvée Villages 2022 took Gold (95 points) at DWWA 2025. Jancis Robinson has profiled the estate in her Greek-producer series and consistently rates the Diaporos and Cuvée Villages cuvées at high specialist scores; the project is recognised internationally as the leading modern Naoussa Xinomavro voice alongside Domaine Thymiopoulos's new-wave register. The estate's broader Greek-wine industry leadership has been formalized through repeated inclusion in international top-vineyard lists (World's Best Vineyards) and the November 2025 acquisition of Domaine Sigalas in Santorini, the high-quality Assyrtiko-led estate of the late Paris Sigalas. The Sigalas acquisition extends Kir-Yianni's footprint from the Macedonian Xinomavro hub south to Santorini, building a portfolio architecture that mirrors the structural-and-aerial split that the estate already runs internally between Naoussa weight and Amyndeon altitude. Stellios has also built the estate's distribution into a deep importer network: Diamond Wine Importers in the United States, plus established channels across the United Kingdom, continental Europe, and the Pacific Rim.

• Stellios Boutaris took operational leadership in 2004 and has built the export footprint to 54 countries while running the project as Greece's most-cited modern Naoussa reference.
• Decanter World Wine Awards record: Diaporos 2019 Gold at DWWA 2024 (top three Greek reds); Cuvée Villages 2021 Silver same year; Cuvée Villages 2022 Gold 95 points at DWWA 2025.
• Jancis Robinson has profiled the estate in her Greek-producer series and consistently rates the Diaporos and Cuvée Villages cuvées at high specialist scores.
• November 2025 acquisition of Domaine Sigalas extends the project from Macedonian Xinomavro to Santorini Assyrtiko; United States distribution runs via Diamond Wine Importers.