Key eras
"Wine like that of Niaousta, they bring it in a shawl"
oral tradition, recorded in Greek folklore sources
A saying preserved in Greek folk tradition holds that wine from Niaousta, the town's older name, was carried wrapped in a shawl rather than a plain jar. Greek Wikipedia's entry on the town records the line as shorthand for a reputation for quality that predates any appellation rule.
Greek Wikipedia's article on Naousa quotes the saying directly as a piece of local oral tradition tied to the town's wine reputation.
The Dalamara family begins wine making and distillation
since the 1840s
Winesofgreece.org's roster page for Dalamaras Winery states that the Dalamara family has worked wine making and distillation at Paliokalias on Vermio's eastern foothills since 1840, five generations before the estate registered under the modern Naoussa PDO.
Winesofgreece.org: "Since 1840, the Dalamara family has been involved in wine making and distillation."
Ioannis Boutaris founds the Boutari winery
1879
Ioannis Boutaris founded the Boutari winery in Naoussa in 1879, the start of a house that would go on to bottle the town's wine commercially and carry the Naoussa name into export markets over the following decades.
Boutari's own company history page: "The Boutari Winery was founded in Naoussa, Imathia, by Ioannis Boutaris" in 1879.
The first modern Greek wine is bottled in Naoussa
1905
Naoussa's own tourism board credits the town with the first modern Greek wine bottled for sale, Naoussa Boutari, in 1905, a milestone that predates Greek independence-era bottling in most other Greek wine districts.
Visitnaoussa.gr: "Naoussa was where the first modern Greek wine was bottled in 1905, the famous 'Naoussa Boutari'."
Boutari opens the first privately owned winery and retail cellar
1906
A year after the 1905 bottling of Naoussa Boutari, the house opened a winery with its own retail cellar in 1906, the point at which Boutari's own company history says it moved from a family operation into property it owned outright in Naoussa.
Boutari's history page dates the opening of a privately owned winery and retail cellar in Naoussa to 1906.
Dimitris Melitzani starts a cooperage at Naoussa
1918
Ktima Melitzani's own site traces the family enterprise to 1918, when cooper Dimitris Melitzani began the barrel-making trade that the family later grew into a wine estate now run by the third and fourth generations.
Ktima Melitzani's site: "everything began in 1918 with Dimitris Melitzanis," naming him as a barrel maker rather than a winemaker at the outset.
Boutari's first wine exports leave Naoussa
1935
In 1935 Boutari sent its first exports abroad, to Austria, Hungary and Egypt, the earliest documented case of Naoussa wine reaching markets outside Greece under a commercial house's own name.
Boutari's history page records "first exports to Austria, Hungary and Egypt" in 1935.
Boutari buys its first vineyard, at Giannakochori
1968
Boutari purchased its first estate vineyard in 1968, in Giannakochori on Vermio's eastern slopes, moving the house from buying grapes to farming a plot it owned outright. The site later became the base for Kir-Yianni, founded by a member of the same family.
Boutari's history page dates the Giannakochori vineyard purchase to 1968.
PDO Naoussa is established, 100 percent Xinomavro
1971
The Naoussa Protected Designation of Origin was established in 1971 and reserves the name for wine made entirely from Xinomavro, the regulation that still defines every bottle labelled Naoussa PDO today.
English Wikipedia's Xinomavro article: "The Naousa Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) was established in 1971 and mandates the use of 100% Xinomavro grapes," corroborated by Visitnaoussa.gr's note that Naoussa was identified as a PDO region "in 1971."
Boutari opens a new winery at Stenimachos
1978
Boutari's own history page dates its state of the art winery in the Stenimachos area of Naoussa to 1978, the building that still houses the house's Naoussa production on Vermio's slopes.
Boutari's history page: a "new state-of-the-art winery ... in Stenimachos, Naoussa" opened in 1978.
The VAENI Naoussa growers' cooperative is founded
1984
Growers around Naoussa founded the VAENI cooperative in 1984 at Episkopi, pooling fruit from members across the appellation into a single winery that today accounts for roughly half of the zone's output by the cooperative's own account.
VAENI Naoussa's own site states the cooperative was established in 1984 and that its member growers account for about 50 percent of local wine production.
Naoussa is proclaimed an International Town of Vine and Wine
1987
In 1987 the International Bureau of Vine and Wine, now the OIV, proclaimed Naoussa an International Town of Vine and Wine. Visitnaoussa.gr repeats the same designation as "International City of Wine and Vines," and a winesofgreece.org winery page independently names the awarding body.
Winesofgreece.org: Naoussa was "proclaimed International Town of Vine and Wine" in 1987 "by the International Bureau of Vine and Wine." Visitnaoussa.gr: Naoussa was declared "International City of Wine and Vines in 1987."
Domaine Foundi is founded at Nea Strantza
1992
Domaine Foundi began as a small family enterprise in 1992 four kilometres outside Naoussa in the Nea Strantza area, later joining the Wine Roads of Northern Greece touring network while keeping Xinomavro at 90 percent of its output.
Winesofgreece.org's roster page: Domaine Foundi has been "active in the field of wine production since 1992," with 90 percent of production from Xinomavro.
Yiannis Boutaris leaves the family firm to found Kir-Yianni
1997
Yiannis Boutaris left the family Boutari company to found Kir-Yianni in 1997, building the new house around the Giannakochori vineyard on Vermio's eastern slopes that Boutari had first planted in 1968.
Winesofgreece.org's roster page for Kir-Yianni: the estate "was established in 1997 by Yiannis Boutaris," who left the Boutari group to found it.
Boutari interplants Merlot and Syrah alongside Xinomavro
1980s
Boutari's own winery page dates the estate's first Merlot and Syrah plantings at Naoussa to the 1980s, international varieties grown alongside the Xinomavro that alone can carry the PDO Naoussa label, and bottled instead under broader regional designations.
Boutari's Naoussa winery page notes Xinomavro as the primary variety "with Merlot and Syrah cultivation beginning in the 1980s."
Boutari's Naoussa winery joins the Sterner Stenhus Greece group
2022
Boutari's company history records that in 2022 the house, including its founding Naoussa winery, became part of the Sterner Stenhus Greece group, the most recent ownership change in a company that has stayed headquartered in the town since 1879.
Boutari's history page lists 2022 as the year the company "became member of Sterner Stenhus Greece group."
Xinomavro wine culture is inscribed as intangible cultural heritage
2023
Greece's Ministry of Culture inscribed "the culture of Xinomavro wine of Naoussa" on the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2023, describing viticulture, winemaking and wine as fundamental to the town's economic, social and cultural identity. This is a national inventory listing under Greek law, not a UNESCO designation.
Ayla.culture.gr's registry entry, inscribed 2023: "Ampeliculture, winemaking, and wine represent fundamental economic, social, historical, and cultural characteristics of the Naoussa city and region," naming Naoussa as home to the largest area under Xinomavro of anywhere the variety is grown.