Why it matters
The producer
Artisans Vignerons de Naoussa is a cooperative of growers united around one grape: Xinomavro, the red variety that defines the Naoussa PDO in northern Greece. The members farm vineyards scattered across the hillside terrain of the Naoussa region, and the collective's working principle is to handle the fruit as little as possible in the cellar, letting the character of the grape and the ground arrive in the glass without correction.
The name signals intent. These are not négociants blending across regions; they are growers who farm their own hillside parcels and submit that fruit to shared winemaking guided by a minimal-intervention philosophy. The range is built around Xinomavro's particular combination of firm acidity, earthy red fruit, and high natural tannin.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Naoussa sits in the Imathia regional unit of Macedonia, in the upland terrain where the Vermio mountains rise west of the city of Naoussa. Vineyards here climb to 400 metres above sea level, and the altitude moderates the growing season, slowing ripening enough to preserve acidity in a grape that can become extracted and coarse when harvested too ripe.
Xinomavro is the only permitted red grape for Naoussa PDO wines. That constraint gives the appellation a singular focus: every red wine made under the designation comes from this single variety, which the local hillside terrain has suited since antiquity.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The cooperative's growers farm vineyards across the hillside terrain of the Naoussa region, working under sustainable viticulture practices aimed at preserving the health and character of the limestone-based soils. The collective's approach to cellar work centres on minimal intervention: keeping the process close to the fruit and the site rather than shaping the wine through aggressive extraction or heavy oak regimes.
Xinomavro is the dominant variety across the red wines, joined by Assyrtiko for the white. The range also includes an orange wine made with extended skin contact, using white grape varieties fermented with native yeasts and minimal sulphur.
Wines to know
The range in view
The core range is built around Xinomavro in its Naoussa PDO form, bottled as Skyphos Xinomavro. A white, Skyphos Assyrtiko, brings the Aegean island variety north into Macedonia. The Orange Point is the most unconventional bottle: an orange wine made from white grapes with extended skin contact, native yeast fermentation, and minimal sulphur, sitting well outside Naoussa's Xinomavro-centred red-wine range.
The Haggan label covers the same wines for export markets, with Haggan Xinomavro corresponding to the core red and Haggan Orange to The Orange Point.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with Haggan Xinomavro. It is the cooperative's central statement: Xinomavro from hillside Naoussa parcels, handled with minimal intervention, showing the dried cherry, cranberry, and herb character the variety delivers on limestone soils at altitude. The spice notes (nutmeg, cinnamon) come from the grape itself rather than from oak, and the firm tannins and bright acidity give the wine enough grip and length to carry the fruit across a long finish. No other Greek red variety produces quite this combination of aromatic lift and tannic grip, and this bottle stands on its own without embellishment.