Greek Wines From Mount Olympus Slideshow

Greece is one of the birthplaces of wine, along the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean, but for much of modern times, great Greek wines were largely just a memory.

Gerovassilious main vineyards are located near Thessaloniki, also known to Westerners as Salonica, in the small fishing village of Epanomi where he grew up.

Life is still simple in Epanomi, where the locals drink ouzo in tavernas and listen to the music of traveling Romany — the people we still call gypsies.

And there is always fresh fish from the Aegean and local produce prepared simply, fresh and delicious

Gerovassiliou takes me to lunch at a favorite beach he has gone to since childhood. On a dirt road, we drive past several ramshackle food huts called kantinas, then pull into one.

The owner, known only as Dimitri, grills the fresh swordfish steaks Gerovassiliou has picked up in the village this morning and prepares with them a simple Greek salad greens, onions and tomatoes — as local drift by for Cokes and snacks.

The next day, we are off to Katsaros Estate  —a client of Geravassiliou's — the only winery on legendary Mount Olympus, whose vineyards are often sheltered by the low-hanging clouds. There we meet Dimitris Katsaros and his son, Evripidis, the former and present winemakers of Katsaros, respectively.

The views of the plain about 2,000 feet below and misty sea are lovely

As are those of the rugged and fabled Vale of Tempe to our right.

Katsaros uses western grapes exclusively —chardonnay, merlot, and cabernet sauvignon. Stella Katsaros, a teacher in the village below and a well-known cookbook writer, serves us freshly made hortopita, an herb-flavored pastry, to go with chilled chardonnay.

That night, Stella calls us to dinner, where she serves us traditional food to go with the familys wines.

We dine on zucchini with feta cheese; a soft, almost-custardy moussaka; minty meat-and-rice dolmades; and braised beef with green peppers. Dessert is galatopoita, a fresh-milk pudding in a flaky crust.

Finally, we sample a cherry or two drying on the roof of a low shed, say goodbye to the Katsaros family, and descend Mount Olympus to the ocean plain below.

This man helped bring it back. His name is Evangelos Gerovassilou, and I had the opportunity to visit with him at his winery in Greek Macedonia. His work has been key to the winemaking revival in northern Greece, and his influence reaches even to the heights of Mount Olympus, where I would later drink wine from a perch where the Gods once ruled the lives of the ancient Greeks.