Orealios Gea present to the Italian audience the native grape variety Robola. 

The waves of the Ionian Sea quench their thirst on its shores, as the evening breeze rises like a magical veil to offer life-giving breaths to the diverse natural landscape of Mt. Ainos, the National Park which towers above Kefalonia with its beauty and massiveness. There, in this rare co-existence of Mountain and Sea, resides the “OREALIOS GAEA”, the land of Robola.  

Descending from the National Park—with the world-exclusive Kefalonian Elati, the dark-green tree which gave Ainos the Venetian name “Monte Nero”—the Plateau of Omalon reverses the image, with its countless olive trees and the vineyards of the Robola Zone, which occupy 180 ha, at an elevation starting from 300m and climbing up to 800m.

The land of Robola

 At the heart of the Robola Wine-Growing Zone, dozens of winemakers from Omala and the surrounding areas (Troiannata, Vlachata, Mousata, Faraklata, Diklinata) created the Kefalonian Robola Wine Cooperative in 1982, in an attempt to protect and promote the Kefalonian vineyard’s potential. After a successful 36-year course, the Cooperative continues to develop and prosper, committed to producing high-quality wines which honor the variety’s reputation and spreading the name of Kefalonia throughout the world. Today, it comprises 300 winegrowers with privately-owned vineyards which occupy approximately 80% of the Robola Zone.

Under its new name, “OREALIOS GAEA”, inspired by the rare terroir and the breathtaking natural landscape, the Cooperative is ushering a new era, with activities and oenological practices that respect local tradition while raising the bar of the winemaking art!

Unwavering, it is born, grows up and delivers its round, blond-greenish fruit amid a harsh, barren landscape—like something springing from the mind of a talented novelist. The Robola Zone, semi-mountainous and with steep gradients—as it lies on the slopes of Mt. Ainos—is distinctive for its limestone, gravelly and barren soil. After all, Italian conquerors called its wine Vino di Sasso, “wine of stone”, ever since the mid-15^th century. Its climate has high levels of precipitation in the winter and waterless, dry summer days, which are, however, offset by exceptionally cool nights, a phenomenon caused by the sea breeze which climbs through the vineyards to the peak of Mt. Ainos.

Amid these harsh farming conditions, Robola manages to grow and offer a unique result.

In 1982, Greek legislators decided to promote the variety’s uniqueness, giving its name to the produced PDO wine Kefalonian Robola, an outstanding honor, being one of the few occasions where the variety has participated in the name of a PDO wine.