Viticulture area: approx. 8,700 hectares
Wine production: approx. 216,000 hectoliters

The distinctly westward physical and cultural orientation of the Ionian islands sets them apart from the rest of Greece. This influence is said to be reflected in their wines, a result of their proximity to Italy and their occupation, during a 700 year period, first by Franks benefitting from Venetian patronage, then by the Venetians themselves.

The Venetians occupied the islands from 1386-1797, the longest occupation by them of any Greek territory. It would not, therefore, be surprising if Italian influence were pervasive.
The existence of cultivar names such as Robola and Vardéa and of traditional styles called Robola and Verdéa make assumptions concerning their Italian origins seem quite logical. A combination of ancient history and modern technology, however, have conspired to reveal a deeper logic. While these names are clearly of Italian origin, and Robola widely believed to be a clone of the Italian Ribolla, the Greek grape Vardea thought to be the Italian grape Verdea, and the style known as Verdea common, in name at least, to both Italy and the Ionian Islands, questions remain concerning the pedigree of the varieties involved and whether Verdea (the style) is of Italian origin at all. Indeed, genetic analysis of the Robola variety suggests a local origin.

In his research for his Masters thesis at the University of California Davis, Greek Wine Grape Varieties: A Microsatellite DNA Marker Analysis, Mihalis Boutaris explored the genetic relationships between a number of Ionian cultivars. He found that Robola samples from two different collections (California and Athens) matched not each other, but rather two other local Ionian cultivars, Thiako and Goustolidi respectively. "Have these accessions", he asks, "been mislabeled and misidentified, or have the true 'Robolas' been missing from the collections all along?

If there has been no error, then it is quite possible that ROBOLA proper refers only to the wine. If that is the case, then there has never truly been a 'Robola' cultivar other than all the other Ionian cultivars that have have gone into the production of ROBOLA wine. [pp. 76, 77]

Moreover, no Greek Robola sample yet tested has displayed a close genetic relationship to the Italian Ribolla. Further genetic testing from a wider base of local samples will be needed to sort out the relationships between these varieties, but likely Robola is Italian in name only.

Despite frequent references to the viticultural aspect of Ancient Greece, much of the literature concerning Greek wine fails to examine the early relationship between Greece and what is now Italy. While the Greeks (in particular, the Phocaeans from Asia minor) are widely credited with introducing wine (and less likely gifts, such as Bouillabaise) to Massalia (later Marseilles) in the south of France, the establishment by the Greeks of colonies throughout a large expanse of the Italian peninsula period is often overlooked. It is likely in this period that some aspects of Greek viniculture migrated westward. Whether actual cultivars made the trek may never be known for certain.

The Verdea (green) style, characterized by green tinge, unripe flavors and slight carbonation, is not exclusive to Greece or Italy. in Portugal, Vinho Verde is more definitive a national product in the modern era than either its Italian or Greek counterparts. While it is impossible to identify conclusively the origins Verdea and Vinho Verde, evidence suggests the practice of vinifying unripe grapes to produce "green' wine originated in Ancient Greece. According to Lambert-Gocs,

The greenish colour of the original Zakynthiote verdea may have resulted from a mix of ripe and unripe grapes, ones likely to have been various in kind and in ripening time. Were that habit indeed the origin of verdéa, wine of its type could long antedate the Venetians and the name they gave it, since the Greeks anciently made a sort of wine, called omfakítis, meaning 'sour grape [omfax] wine' for which unripe berries were purposely vinified with over-ripe ones, perhaps with the intent of achieving both the strength of a high alcoholic degree and a fresh savour. [p.210]

Regardless of the origins of the winemaking traditions of the Ionian Islands, a cosmopolitan air still pervades the industry there. Noble and erudite vintners are mingled with the local variety, and for the main part traditions have evolved separately on each island despite a general similarity between climate, geography and varietal resources. Because of the suitability of the Ionian islands for currant cultivation, commercial viticulture fared far less well there under the Venetians than it had in the Aegean. Importantly, however, a surprising wealth of traditional varieties remained intact. Although the islands are not a hotbed of new activity, they are home to several important producers.