The museum of the wine “Gerovasiliou” opened doors in Epanomi close to Thessaloniki. It was opened by Evangelos Gerovasiliou who has been collecting since 1976 various objects related to the wine production from the various stages since ancient times until today. Currently the collection of Gerovasiliou is considered to be one of the richest collections of this type in the world. In the museum there are objects exhibited which are related to the preservation and conservation of the wine, which uncover its social, economical and symbolical meaning throughout the ages. In one of the wings of the museum there are 2 000 corkscrews and corks which dated from the Meddle Ages until modern times.

Gerovasiliou is considered to be the father of Malagusia, a very old local type of grape which was endangered. In 1987 he finds the winery and soon after he bottles the first wines he has produced. Currently he cultivates 33 wines which are regularly receiving awards from all the prestigious international exhibitions and contests and are considered to be among the best wines in the world. Gerovasiliou is married and has three children who he hopes will follow the tradition one day and grow wine grapes in Epanomi.

The first wine which was made on these lands dates from the ages of the Byzantium empire where there region was called “kali meria” or “good country” because of the good quality of the local production. From the western side of Epanomi you could see the Thessaloniki gulf Termaikos, the mount Olympus and the cost of Pieria.

What is the story of the grape Malagusia which the wine grower “Gerovasiliou” is famous for? This is an ancient Greek type which had almost disappeared. 30 years ago an agronomist, professor Logothetis who is also a collector of rare and ancient sorts took the stem from somewhere in North-western Greece and planted it in Shato Karas, where Evangelos used to work at the time. Evangelos produced wine for Karas for about 20 years until he started sparing all his available time to his own winery. At that time Karas was making a research of the potential of the various sorts of grape and Logothetis was helping him in this. Evangelos identified the potential of Malagusia so when he started his own winery this was the main kind of grape he planted.

Evangelos Gerovasiliou is born in Epanomi in 1951 in a family with long traditions in the production of wine. After his graduation from the Thessaloniki University, he leaves for France where he continues his education in the University of Bordo. In Bordo Gerovasiliou assists to Emily Peino in the tasting of the wines from the type Bordo Shato.