Tassos Retzios, the Journalist

Sporadic childhood memories, a violently changed adolescence, a return that closes a circle (and, at the same time, opens a new one): retsina in the life of the well-known Thessalonican journalist provokes a recall of feelings, a mood for social gathering, but also questions and inquiries about the tomorrow of the most Greek of Greek wines.

"I think retsina has never lost its popularity - and, by the way, I don't know if it even wants to lose it..."

CONJUNCTIONS.

Some professions are more associated with certain drinks. That of the journalist, for example, has been associated (because of real experiences or because of movie clichés – no matter what in reality) with dimly lit desks late at night, with the green lamp next to the papers (in the past) or the computer (in recent years) to illuminate and a low whiskey glass as well. Prejudice? Maybe – if not most likely. And retsina? Is it a drink that could accompany moments in the everyday life of a combat journalist – moments of work, but also moments of rest and reflection?

We ask the well-known Thessalonican journalist Tassos Retzios how present and in what way retsina is in his daily life. We ask him if he has associated the consumption of the particular wine with a moment or period in his life – for example, with his student years, with an outing with friends, with a trip, even with a moment he spent with himself of.

"I have promised that I will never start with 'I', which is exactly why I use this sentence, so that it does not appear that I am starting exactly like that. But... Retsina and I have had a guilty relationship ever since we first met at some family dinner table – I'd bet it was the father who linked his form to it and imprinted that on my memory. It didn't last long, because from a young age I remember my father being sick – tobacco and alcohol suddenly disappeared from the nascent mythology befitting a pre-teen. Let it be... Retsina didn't hold a grudge against me and met me again in Jojo, if you remember, in the Castles, together with now forgotten student companions and loves (we say now...). I did not let it play the game: very quickly, wines, liquors and other mythologies attacked the thymic and overpowered it. And my son was born, and a friend came to watch football together in a tavern and 'what to drink, bring retsina' (this time with soda) and once my son also came (for the suzukakia) and saw me with retsina – and to think now that he impressed the same image I describe at the beginning. Retsina is a circle...".

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.

Retsina is one of the most characteristic Greek wines - if not the most characteristic, as it is produced exclusively in our country, combining two of its emblematic elements: the vine and the pine. And yet: over the years its image has been distorted, with some preferring it for its eminently Greek character and others snubbing it (this is a situation that, fortunately, thanks to some charismatic Greek winemakers, is changing in recent years). What image does Tassos Retzios have of this very special Greek wine?

“Is retsina wine? For so many years I thought it was a liqueur!” he comments emphatically. "Okay, you could see one difference over the years: the stomach doesn't stir anymore, and the head stays in place... All kidding aside, however, what's been happening to me about retsina in recent years is this: it used to be so easy -almost automatic- to put almost any soft drink into retsina, to "bone" it, for example, and not care if you lose something of its taste and essence. Today, getting your hands on much more elegant packaging, putting it in better glasses, seeing the color and tasting the taste, you don't want to mix it up. I catch myself sometimes filling my mouth and tasting it like fine wine. Whether it's the years that passed on me or the ones that gathered in it. That is, time again...".

THE PLACE AND THE WORLD.

And the anthropogeography of retsina? The neighborhoods and its fanatical consumers, if there can be such a topographical and anthropological classification in the case of Thessaloniki?

"I think that retsina has never lost its popularity - and, as we speak, I don't know if it even wants to lose it..." argues the well-known journalist. "In all of us, the thymic is combined mainly with students (which I don't know if it's true, because I see them as more... active drinkers than we pretended to be) and with the working class. I don't know if it's 'to blame' for the low price, the tradition of the draftsmen and a bit of its 'vagueness', but we can hardly imagine it pairing a seven-course meal in a good restaurant. On the contrary: can you imagine a cafe or tavern telling you that it does not have retsina? If we should now, well, take a topographic map of retsina in the city, we would see that it thickens in the west, thins out – to the point of disappearance – in the east and struggles in the center, where, after all, the cosmopolitan side collides with the oriental side of Thessaloniki. But I won't hide from you that I have witnessed retsina being served in nice pillar glasses held by dignified beings (the liqueur I was telling you about). I wonder if this could be a harbinger of a refined trend of retsina...'.

THE COMPANION OF DRUNKNESS.

"You order retsina in three cases" concludes Tassos Retzios. "You're watching a match in a cafe or a tavern, you're alone and you want to drink (and the size of the bottle is just right) and, thirdly, it's the most convenient option when you haven't decided what you want to drink. Besides these, there are also... all the other cases. And do you know why? Because retsina is a companion of drunkenness: it has a subtle presence, it accompanies sadness but also joy, its intensity and abundance go unnoticed ('Have another one!') and in the end it leaves to you the initiative to stop in time or not. And one last thing, but not least: it is yet another element of our individuality, of our Greekness, if you prefer. So, objectively, it has our sympathy."

Choose the interest you want and discover the route that suits: