Yannis Valvis: From water to wine and from Romania to Santorini

From Santorini, the island that has more wine than water, Giannis (Jean) Valvis, president of the Carpathian Springs company that produces Acqua Carpathica water, will start his Greek business activities.

The Greek-Swiss businessman, who has managed to make deals with Coca Cola, Lactalis and Pepsico by selling the brands he created from scratch, is returning to his roots in seeking to promote the wines of his Romanian company, Domeniile Samburesti, in Greece .

In Santorini and specifically in Vlychada, his grandfather’s birthplace, Yiannis Valvis is completing the construction of his house, denying that he intended to create a five-star hotel unit, as it used to be called.

Read also: Yannis Valvis: The Greek-Swiss businessman who wooed three multinationals

According to what he mentioned yesterday in a meeting with journalists, vines have been planted on the Cyclades island and the winemaking activity is expected to be the first Greek venture of the Valvis family in Greece.

From the king of Wallachia to Ceausescu

In addition to the purchase of natural mineral water (20% of Carpathian Springs has been owned by PepsiCo for some time, while the Valvis family retained 64%, with the remaining 16% held by company executives), the intrepid  entrepreneur has put a foot in the difficult and highly competitive wine market since 2005.

17 years ago the Valvis Holding Group invested over 14.5 million euros in Viti-Pomicola Samburesti, an area of ​​500 hectares of vineyard and 500 hectares of fruit trees, reviving the local vineyard.

“In Romania we have taken the vineyard that belonged in 1600 to the king of Wallachia, from 1945 the vineyard passed to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Romania, which later came under Ceausescu” noted Mr. Valvis.

His son, Stefanos Valvis, is responsible for the winemaking activity.

Valvis Holding is reportedly close to a deal with a partner in Greece, with the promotion of its wines starting from Santorini.

In the future, the businessman does not rule out the possibility of expanding into the production of cereals. This is the third “pillar” of Valvis Holding’s activities in Romania.

The turnover for Valvis Holdings amounts to 140 million euros, where water (Acqua Carpatica) is the star with a turnover of 100 million euros, while wine and cereals account for 20 million euros each.

Water

After a year and a half in the Greek market, the share of naturally carbonated natural mineral water Aqua Carpatica is estimated at around 3%.

Acqua Carpatica is currently available in 16 national markets, including Greece. In Greece the water is available through the Mantis network at all supermarkets except the Lidl chain.