Calypso Goula, the lawyer

Informal urban traditions, historic haunts, moments of joy with loved ones, friends old or new: the universe of Thessaloniki of the well-known lawyer includes many moments of happiness – usually combined with retsina.

THE CITY OF OUR HEART

Fragrances and habits of archetypal Thessaloniki, gatherings with dear friends and relatives, landmarks associated with gastronomic pleasures and, of course, retsina, lots of retsina: Thessaloniki of the well-known lawyer Calypso G. Goula is full of moments that at some point beautified our own lives.
"I have associated retsina - as I imagine many people do - with my student years" she explains. "Law student in my city, nights out with new friends, new boyfriends and girlfriends, fun in taverns, clubs - a different way of life than the one I was used to until then and, of course, a lot of retsina consumption. Of course, I can't forget the endless Saturdays in Modiano, in Petros: big groups - we started with four people and became... a hundred and four -, acquaintances, strangers, friends, all in one group. I distinctly remember one Christmas Eve... My brother had come to spend the holidays with us from America, where he had started his PhD, together with two of his American girlfriends who we were hosting at our house. We went to Petros at 2 in the afternoon, it was 9 in the evening, and we didn't want to leave. Musicians, commotion, pageantry, dancing, the bottles of retsina were emptied immediately and in the end, we took them ourselves from the crates outside the store. The guests went crazy – they had never experienced anything like it before and we almost missed the evening revue with our parents, who were waiting for us to have fun together in a big city hotel. Needless to say, what we heard when we got home at the last minute, to get ready to go out, and how we finally appeared... We are, after all, our memories.'

FROM YESTERDAY TO TODAY.

Could all this memory of a fragrancemagic mean that in the everyday life of the Thessalonian lawyer retsina is still powerfully present? "The truth is that, after the widespread consumption of retsina in my student and slightly older years, in the last several years I have turned more towards flavored white wine, not because I snub retsina, but simply because my own taste habits have changed", confesses Calypso G. Goula. "But that doesn't mean I've given up on it".

In the course of the last decades, retsina has largely been identified with Thessaloniki. With which world, with which moments and tastes does the well-known lawyer associate it? “Judging by my own habits and images, I associate retsina more with a more relaxed state – not particular formalities”, she replies. "I also associate it with specific foods that I think suit it - for example, the combination of retsina with a meal that includes cod in oilcloth, hot pepper, potatoes or souzoukakia of Peraiais special to me. It is a fact that Thessaloniki has maintained many quality retsina labels for many years – and I find it very encouraging that retsina is once again firmly on the map of widely consumed wines."

More retsina, more joy – or comfort, depending on when we consume it? What role does it play in our daily lives? In the moments of company and loneliness, joy and sadness, extroversion, and introversion? "The answer is easy and self-evident",Calypso G. Goula tells us. "Retsina is for all moments and for everyone separately. It is a wine that you drink with company, you drink alone, you clink your glass with those around you in joy, but also in memory of a loved one who is missing. It is company for laughing, but it is also for crying. Wine is our companion at the end of a hard day, when we want to relax. It is our company at lunch, to celebrate a success, a recognition at work, an important event. It is, in any case, our companion for everything and everywhere".