Greece Now The development of this new segment of the Greek wine industry continues. Major new ventures, like the pedigreed Gaia and Voyatsis estates have, in a short time, made a substantial mark. Energetic young producers like Nikólaos Douloufakis, Yiannis Economou and Haridimos Hatzidakis have thrown their hats into the ring, sure to mature over time and to make their presences felt. At the same time that much attention in Greece during its recent wine revolution was centered on foreign cultivars, few producers, large or small, ever aimed to abandon what remained of the traditional Greek vineyard. While it is true that many successful new ventures of the 1980s and 1990s relied on a certain prestige associated with the use of common Western varieties (whether due to savvy business sense or a lack of confidence in native varieties to attract serious consideration abroad), doubts concerning the future potential of Greece's indigenous grapes were not played out in the country's vineyards. For one thing, the abandonment of well-established markets for traditional products of any quality was–and still is–uncalled for. For another, faith in the country's wine traditions and resources was sufficiently strong to guarantee not only their survival, but their primacy in the identity of a new wine industry. George Skouras, a major figure during the past two decades, maintains that foreign varieties were a passport, a standard against which the abilities of Greece's producers could be measured. Only with these, he believes, would the outside world have a basis for accepting the abilities of Greece's winemakers, and by extension, a basis for judging and appreciating the vinifications of indigenous cultivars.