(Forbes) - According to Cava Spidialis, Greek wine importer to the United States and Canada, since 2007, one year before the global economic meltdown, “…our sales in North America have grown 1,000 percent.” 

The company also says, according to the National Inter-professional Association of Vine and Wine, “from 2011-2016 “…sales of Greek wine in North America have increased 39 percent in the U.S. and 55 percent in Canada…” 

The take-away: austerity at home did nothing to hurt Greek wine exports. In fact, according to Cava Spidialis, “Wine exports are separate unto itself (sic) and they thrive in the global economic forum.”

OK, so how did the Greeks do it?

Some would argue that historically, there would be no Italian wine if it weren’t for the ancient Greeks. Maybe, maybe not, but it is true that after arriving more than 3,000 years ago, ancient Greeks influenced the wines of their colonies along the Mediterranean Sea’s northern coastline. After Rome subsumed Greek culture, Roman wine prevailed throughout what had largely been the Greek’s wine market. Through succeeding centuries, various wars and cultural shifts relegated Greek wine further to the sidelines. 

In the modern era, as Greek wines attempted to re-enter the West’s wine market, it didn’t help that North American consumers weaned on European grape varietal wines had no idea concerning the identity of the hard-to-pronounce grape varieties of Greece. But even some who wanted them had trouble finding premium Greek wines. For instance, many years ago on a visit to Greece, I was lucky to taste some truly fantastic wines produced both on the mainland and on a couple of the islands, especially the northern islands which have always excelled in wine production.