Thessaloniki to auction off urban vineyard wines for charity

Each bottle will have a unique label with a reproduction of a painting from the Municipal Art Gallery’s collection

On 22 October, local authorities in Thessaloniki announced that they will hold an auction to sell off the 150 bottles of wine produced in the city’s urban vineyard. Each bottle will have a unique label depicting works of art from the collection of the Municipal Art Gallery in the Greek city.

Furthermore, the city will donate the proceeds from the wine auction to the Municipal Nursery "Agios Stylianos", as local authorities have done since the municipal vineyard opened in 2014.

50 bottles of white and 100 bottles of red wine  

Thessaloniki authorities will offer 50 bottles of white wine from the Robola variety and 100 bottles of red wine from the Xinomavro variety. The bottles will be auctioned off in 62 different packages, including single bottles, two bottles, three bottles, four bottles and six bottles.

Additionally, each bottle will be decorated with a unique work of art – a reproduction of one of the art pieces held by the Thessaloniki Municipal Art Gallery. The labels will feature works by famed local painters like N. Engonopoulou, N. Gyzi, A. Fasianou, P. Regou, D. Mytara, G. Sikeliotis, K. Lousta, N. Kessanli, G. Lazoga, G. Moralis, P. Moschidis, P. Papanakou, N. Sahini, L. Venetoulia and many others.

Turning wine culture into urban culture

As more and more people move to cities, the urban-rural divide is growing at a fast pace while people themselves are more detached from food production than ever. At the same time, Greece is a country famed for its vineyards and local authorities aimed to bring that tradition to Thessaloniki.

They opened the city’s urban vineyard on an area of two acres, growing traditional Greek grape varieties on the site, like xinomavro, agioritiko, malagouzia and rombola. The vineyard’s first harvest was in 2014 and many locals have taken part in the process over the years.

The vineyard is also used by the Viticulture Laboratory of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Agriculture. Moreover, every harvest has been sold off at an auction, with the proceeds going to charity.