Macedonia is the largest geographical region of Greece, bordered on the north by the states of Albania, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria. To the west it borders the region of Epirus and to the south Thessaly. To the east, Macedonia is separated from Thrace by the Nestos River. Despite the size of the region, Macedonia, with nearly 7,210 hectares of vineyards, ranks only third among the most important wine growing regions, behind Central Greece and the Peloponnese. Macedonia is well supplied with water by the mountains. Irrigation of the vineyards in summer is therefore possible in principle. Macedonia produces mostly red wine, the most important grape variety being Xinomavro. The diversity of grape varieties was severely limited by the phylloxera catastrophe at the end of the 19th century. Researchers at the Viticultural Institute in Athens estimate that nearly 60 percent of the autochthonous varieties in the region were lost.
