About us
Read about our entire history beginning in the late 80’s
jQuery(function($){ $(document).ready(function() { $(".about-sections").hide(); $(".about-us").show(); $("#about-us").addClass("active-button"); $('.about-buttons').click(function() { $('.about-buttons').removeClass("active-button"); $(".about-sections").hide(); $("."+this.id).fadeIn('slow'); $(this).addClass("active-button"); }); }); });
Information about us
We started at the end of the 80s, partly out of necessity but mostly out of love for pure and traditional flavors. The reputation of our products quickly spread beyond our close circle of friends and family, and their quality was advertised by word of mouth. Many times, we had to disappoint some people as we couldn’t meet the demand that was created.
Today, our activities include the cultivation of our vineyards, the processing of the goods they generously provide us, and of course, their distribution. However, our love for what we do and our dedication to producing organic, high-quality products remain at the same high levels as when we started.
After all, our passion and continuous quality have brought us to the top of the preference of consumers and professional clients, not only in every corner of Greece but also in many places abroad.
We thank you for your preference. We promise to continue in the same way, so you can always enjoy the pure, uncompromising quality products we produce.
The Kazakis Family
Our Story
Yesterday…
Our story begins in the late 1980s. Marianna Kazaki, a lover of good cooking and traditional flavors, starts packaging vine leaves from her grandfather Thanasis’ vineyards using the pasteurization method, so she and her family can enjoy the freshness and taste of May vine leaves even in the heart of winter. Having worked from a very young age in her father Pangalos Kazakis’ restaurant, under the guidance of her Armenian grandmother Maria, she knows how to distinguish delicious food from the inartful and recognize quality in the products she puts on her table.
At the same time, Dimitris Kazakis becomes increasingly involved with his father’s vineyards in Nea Gonia, Halkidiki, as an escape from the pace of Thessaloniki. After all, he never stopped working the land, harvesting wheat, and tending to the vineyards. This supplements the family income with the revenue from exporting Victoria table grapes to Western European markets. During this period, Dimitris and Marianna’s children, Pangalos and Thanasis, finish school and begin their studies.
The Yugoslav Wars in the early 1990s cut off the important German market from Greek grape producers due to the duration and cost of transporting the product via the Adriatic. The result is an oversupply of the product within Greece and a steep drop in its price. Consequently, most vine growers in Northern Greece either uproot their vineyards or graft them with wine grape varieties.
It is then that Dimitris, encouraged by Marianna, decides to innovate. The vineyards are grafted with Sultanina because the Sultanina leaf (or Sultan’s leaf as it is called abroad) is both durable and soft, making it ideal for a good dolma, balancing the flavor of the filling with the leaf’s deliciousness.
Today…
The deliciousness of the family’s vine leaves quickly won over friends and acquaintances. Everyone spoke highly of “Marianna’s” vine leaves, as they had come to call them. Therefore, it was not at all difficult to find a name for our product. On the contrary, it has been (and remains) challenging to meet the demand for “Marianna’s Vine Leaves”: from just 500 jars processed in the backyard of our family home in Nea Gonia in 1989, we now exceed 75,000 jars.
Pangalos, a graduate of the American Farm School, continued his studies in crop production at a college in England. There, he was “introduced ” into a new method of production: organic farming. Foreseeing the shift of consumers towards healthier foods and recognizing the unique taste that organic products offer, the family decided – innovating once again – to convert all its vineyards to organic. The Kazakis vineyards are among the first entirely organic ones in Greece.
Year after year, production grew, and the fame of the vine leaves spread beyond Greece’s borders. The first “packaging facility,” our family home’s backyard, quickly gave way to a small building in 1996. Soon, even that became insufficient. Thus, in 1999, the original building was expanded, and in 2003, it expanded again. Today, our production, storage, and office facilities cover over 2000 square meters.
Meanwhile, the increased volume of production and the demanding markets we target necessitated the organization and maintenance of a strict quality assurance system tailored to our specific needs and requirements. As a result, in 2004, we implemented and were certified under HACCP for our production processes.
…Tomorrow
“Marianna’s Vine Leaves” and the other products from the Kazakis family are now widely known throughout Greece and are gradually expanding internationally. Our products are already present in more than 20 countries around the worls, including the Great Britain, France, the USA, Singapore, Australia, Japan etc., with ongoing efforts to export to other countries as well.
At the same time, we are enriching our product range to offer our customers everything our vineyards generously provide. We now offer springtime vine shoots, winter tsipouro, May vine leaves, and September petimezi. Our catalog is also complemented with Sultana raisins, fig and pumpkin confitures, compote and grape jam.
But we don’t stop there. One very popular product is Marianna’s Dolmades. These stuffed vine leaves embody Grandma Maria’s secret recipe and Marianna’s innovative spirit. This combination ensures the traditional taste is preserved while incorporating a pioneering preparation method (placing the dolmadakia upright so they don’t unravel during cooking). By always applying the strictest hygiene procedures and strictly adhering to the quality assurance system, we can offer Greek homemakers the traditional flavors they know, the care and love they want to give their families, and the time to enjoy them.
And the story goes on! In recent years, Pangalos has been experimenting with the aging of our distillate and has designed and offered to the market our aged ABELON organic grape spirit. Produced exclusively by organic grapes and aged in oak barrels made from wood from the central forests of France, ABELON is bottled unfiltered from a single cask, giving you the ecquisite fine aromas and tastes of the Halkidiki land.
Our People
All our products are the result of the continuous care of the Kazakis family. The people behind your favorite flavors are:
Marianna
Our mother is the inspiration behind this small family business’s shift towards everyday products aimed at the Greek cook and Mediterranean cuisine in general. Starting from the need for pure, tasty, and fresh ingredients on her loved ones’ table year-round, she utilized traditional preservation recipes, the result of which you enjoy daily at your table.
Dimitris
Our father, with many years of experience in farming, has been the vigilant advisor to the new generation of this family business. He has contributed his rich experiences to ensure the quality of our products from the moment the first roots are planted until the harvest and packaging of our products.
Pangalos
Pagalos introduced organic farming into the family’s vineyard activities. A graduate of the American Farm School in Thessaloniki, he obtained his degree in agronomy from Writtle College in England and then returned to Nea Gonia to implement modern viticulture methods. With a visionary outlook on the future of organic farming and recognizing the scarcity of pure, quality products in the Greek market, he redirected the traditional family viticulture towards new goals.
Thanasis
Sakis, with extensive experience as a marketing executive in major companies, is responsible for the ISO 22000:2005 quality assurance and traceability system, the sales network, as well as marketing activities.
Certifications
Organic Products
Our privately-owned vineyards and products are certified for the correct implementation of organic farming practices by Bio-Hellas, a control body recognized by the Agricultural Products Certification and Supervision Organization (AGROCERT) of the Ministry of Rural Development.
HACCP
At the same time, at our own packaging facility, we have been implementing a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system since 2005, developed by FoodLab and audited by Lloyd’s.
ISO 22000:2018
On August 5, 2008, the Kazakis House was certified for the implementation and completion of the ISO 22000:2005 quality assurance system, which represents the evolution of HACCP systems. Moreover, the system ensures the full traceability of all raw materials and final products of our vineyard, facilitated through integration with our ERP software. Our current ISO22000:2018 system is regularly audited by the internationally acclaimed house of Lloyd’s.
Food safety
Apart from the official procedures we follow, we conduct voluntary analyses (such as soil, laboratory, microbiological, etc.) at the certified analysis laboratory FoodLab. Of course, our products and facilities have all the required operating licenses and are regularly inspected by the competent state authorities (Health Service of the Prefecture of Chalkidiki, EFET, etc.) without ever receiving the slightest observation.
However, the best quality certification we have to show is all of you, our customers, who have trusted us all these years and spread the quality and taste of our products “by word of mouth”. Thank you!
Facilities
Our Beginning
It all started here: in Grandma Athena’s backyard, where Marianna made the first jars in the early ’90s.
Our vineyards
Our vineyards are all organic and cultivated with the Sultana variety, which yields the softest leaves. It is from here that we gather the leaves, the vineshoots, and grapes used to produce our products.
The plant
This is how our facility is today, on the road that goes from Nea Gonia to Nea Kallikrateia, just outside our village.
The Lab
In our ISO22000 certified workshop, we process and bottle “Marianna’s Vine Leaves” as well as all our other products.
Gallery
Right in front of our workshop we have built a warm and welcoming space for the reception of our friends. Come have a seat !
They have said about us…
From time to time many print and electronic media have written and/or talked about us.
The most recent publications about us include the following:
- 1/11/08 Free Press: “Cheers to the Most Intoxicating Journey” by Zefi Kleronomou with photos by Efi ParoutsaTravel
- 26/10/08 Magazine in Macedonia on Sunday: Journey through the Wine Roads by Mary Grigoriadou
- 08/06/08 Gastronomos Magazine of Kathimerini on Sunday: Presentation of “Dolmadakia of Marianna” product by Dino Kiousis.
- 31/05/08 Tachydromos Magazine in Nea (Weekend Edition): Presentation of “Ampelofylla of Marianna” by the journalist
- January 2008 Vima Gourmet Supplement in Vima on Sunday 13/01/08. “Ampelofylla of Marianna” among the top 100 for 2008!
- December 2007 Images Magazine in Ethnos on Sunday 2/12/07.
- August 2007 Olive Magazine by Ilias Mamalakis
- 15/04/07 Epiloges Magazine of Makedonia Newspaper : Feature on the American Agricultural School of Thessaloniki and presentation of some successful graduates, including Pangalos Kazakis.
- 09/11/06 The Key TV Show on TV100 with Eleni Konstantinou . Discussion on organic products with participation of Pangalos Kazakis
- 14/05/06 Supplement of Kyriakatiki Eleftherotypia. Column “Shop of the Month” by Maria Harami. “Ampelofylla from Sultanina of the brand ‘Statir’ are considered the best in the market.”
- 14/03/06Hungry Bear TV Show on ET-3 with Stathis Panagiotopoulos
- 10/03/06 “Clear Talks”TV Show on ALTER with George Varemenos . Interview with Marianna Kazaki
- 09/02/06 Eleftheros Typos Newspaper . Agriculture Supplement. Article by Nikos Philippides
- 14/12/05 ‘Society’ at 08:00 on MEGA Channel with Stratis Liarelis and Dimitris Kabourakis
- 13/12/05 Clear Talks TV Show on ALTER with George Varemenos
- 11/12/05 TV show “The news of Antenna” at 8 on Antenna
- 10/12/05 Newspaper “To Ethnos” (Saturday edition). Article by Maria Ritzaleou.
- 26/11/05: Newspaper “Agrenda”. Article by Nikos Philippidis.**
If you would like to publish any information about “Marianna’s Vineleaves” or any other products from our farm, please contact us!