The cellar of Nestor

The cultivation of the vine is widespread, on all continents, and something similar happens with the production of wine. Greece in the production of grapes and wine is among the top 20 countries in the world. Vineyards and wine have been living in Greece for thousands of years. At the palace of Homer's King Nestor, located in Southern Peloponnese, we find the oldest sample of cellars found in Greece, proof that the wine culture in the area has been developed for at least 3500 years. The young people participating in the program will have the opportunity to visit the palace and the cellar of Homeric Nestor while they will learn about the utensils they used to store and consume the wine. Participants will be staying in the Gialova area and they will visit local wineries that produce fine wines and spirits of wine, so they will bridge the distance that separates today from the time of Nestor. During the project, they will be initiated in the wine tasting, thus deepening their relationship with the gift of Dionysus. At the same time, they will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the references to vine and wine in literature, in the fine arts and also in religious texts from ancient times until today. They will be asked to watch documentaries and films about wine culture such as: Tu seras mon fils (2011), Premiers crus (2015), The Vintner's Luck (2009), I vardia tou pelekanou (2011). With the help of works of art, they will come in contact with the role of wine in facilitating personal and social relations and the long tradition that links Dionysus' gift with the gifts of Aphrodite. Participants will be invited to express their reaction to the wine culture by selecting alone or in groups the form of their expression e.g. by presenting a tableau vivant referring to a work of painting or sculpture or by simulating a ritual in which the focus is the use of wine,
The program will take place in the spring of 2019 in the area of Gialova in the Municipality of Pylos - Nestoros in the Southwest Peloponnese region, which is very close to the archaeological site of the Nestor Palace in Egklianos. Each group of 8 people will consist of 7 members of both sexes aged 20-29 and 1 leader.