Oenopolis: Greek wine importer Netherlands

At ViniBio 2026 in Amsterdam, Yiannis Mylothridis was pouring Greek wines you rarely find on a Dutch list: a Savatiano from Attica, a Debina from Epirus, a Robola from Kefalonia. Yiannis runs Oenopolis. If you are after a Greek wine importer in the Netherlands that looks beyond Santorini, he is the one to talk to.

He told the story of how it started in an earlier Sparks episode. In 2012 childhood friends brought him their first Malagousia, and over the years that followed he replaced almost the entire range of the family wholesale business. Oenopolis now imports close to 300 wines.

Beyond Santorini

Greece has more than 300 native grape varieties, though far from all are planted. Yiannis stocks Assyrtiko and Xinomavro as well; you can’t get round them, he says. His filter sits elsewhere: small houses, mostly under 100,000 bottles a year, and grapes you don’t come across often. Anything he wouldn’t buy himself goes.

In his view Greek wine has an image problem in the Netherlands. Greece battled phylloxera for longer than other countries, and island restaurants spent years pouring cheap two-litre wine. If that was your first Greek wine, he says, you gave up on it.

Three bottles from the table

Mylonas Naked Truth 2024. Savatiano from Attica, made by Stamatis Mylonas just outside Athens. He was a Sparks guest earlier, on Attica’s ancient terroir and how Savatiano ages ten years or longer.

Jima Supergirl Day 36 (2025). Debina from Epirus, from the house whose Plein Soleil Day 22 I tasted on the podcast. According to Yiannis, Supergirl is Jima’s base Debina and, at around 1,200 bottles, the estate’s largest release. It sold out quickly in the Netherlands. Each year brings a new label and a new Day number.

Petrakopoulos Palia Armakia. Robola from Kefalonia, labelled organic and natural. An island wine well off the Santorini trail.

Cyprus on its own

Alongside Greece, Oenopolis imports Cypriot wine, and Yiannis says he is now the largest importer of it in the Netherlands. Cyprus has its own grapes, such as Xynisteri, Promara and Spourtiko, plus Commandaria, which Yiannis describes as the first wine with a protected designation of origin. He built a separate site for Cyprus, cypriotischewijn.nl, listing more than 40 wines.

Why this matters now

Yiannis believes the overall standard of Greek wine has risen sharply over the past decade. He sees a new generation of winemakers who studied abroad and experiment in the cellar, and growers looking for ways to help their vines cope with the heat. One Michelin-starred restaurant even found the €27 Plein Soleil from the Sparks episode too cheap for its list.

For wine shops wanting to look beyond Italy and Spain, and for sommeliers after something different on their list, that is reason enough to taste. It is Yiannis’ own advice, too: taste, and don’t stay stuck on France and Italy.

Caveats

Oenopolis works with small releases, and that has a downside. A Debina of 800 bottles is gone after one run, and at Jima the label changes every year and sometimes the wine does too. You can’t be sure what next year will bring.

Yiannis admits he has visited nowhere near all his producers; he finds many at trade fairs or through samples. In Greek restaurants in the Netherlands, he says, you still rarely get a good glass recommended. And at ViniBio I tasted one glass of each wine, at the table of the importer who sells them.

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Contact: Yiannis Mylothridis Website: oenopolis.vin

Sources

• Sparks with Yiannis Mylothridis (Oenopolis)
• Oenopolis, About Yiannis Mylothridis
• Mylonas Winery, Naked Truth Savatiano 2024

I tasted the bottles above at the Oenopolis table at ViniBio 2026; none of them were sent to me. Oenopolis did supply the bottle for the Sparks episode (the Plein Soleil Day 22) and introduced me to Greek winemakers for two other episodes. I received no payment and the opinions are my own.