Inside the Naxos Cheesery Winning Athens Over

On Naxos — the greenest and most fertile island in Greece’s Cyclades archipelago — the land gives generously. For generations, locals have lived off its gifts: livestock, milk, herbs, wine and rich grazing pastures. Some abandoned that inheritance in favor of tourism. Others chose to protect it.

Manolis Koufopoulos belongs firmly in the second category.

A fourth-generation cheesemaker from Naxos, Koufopoulos could easily have followed many of his fellow islanders into the tourism business when it came time to take over the family trade. Instead, he chose to continue a cheesemaking tradition that began decades ago in a tiny mountain dairy hut — known locally as a mazia — near Mount Koronos.

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That was where his great-grandfather first made cheese. His grandfather and father followed. Then came Manolis.

Armed with inherited recipes, deep technical knowledge and relentless passion, he transformed the family’s small dairy into one of the island’s most respected artisanal producers. He relocated the cheesery to the village of Galanado, modernized the facilities and continued making cheese the old-fashioned way — slowly, naturally and by hand.

“Our philosophy is simple: we want to offer people the same food we would feed our own family,” says Archontoula Maraki, Koufopoulos’ wife and longtime partner in the business. “The milk must be pure — the same milk our children drink. We don’t do anything differently for customers than we do for ourselves.”

Reviving the forgotten cheeses of Naxos

Everything begins with milk — especially on Naxos.

The island has the largest population of sheep, goats and cattle in the Cyclades, and dairy production runs deep in local culture, even if some have forgotten it over time.

Koufopoulos set out to remind them.

Digging through old recipe archives passed down through generations, he revived cheeses that had nearly disappeared from the island’s culinary memory. Traditional Cycladic fresh and aged cheeses that had long faded into obscurity began returning to production.

“At our dairy, all the traditional cheeses of Naxos are being revived — even the forgotten ones,” Maraki explains. “The file handed down to him contained all the recipes once made on the island. He developed them further and, using his expertise, also created entirely new cheeses inspired by tradition but adapted to modern tastes.”

Tradition meets innovation

Koufopoulos didn’t stop at preserving the past.

Inspired by the raw materials produced by Naxos itself, he began experimenting with herbs, honey, local wine and seasonal ingredients, creating cheeses that feel both deeply traditional and strikingly contemporary.

Nothing goes to waste — a philosophy inherited from old village cheesemakers and one that closely mirrors today’s zero-waste culinary movement.

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Among the revived specialties is Melanotyri, an intensely traditional cheese that the dairy refined and elevated. Another is Kommos, a dense, durable cheese once made by shepherds to sustain them while tending flocks in remote mountain pastures.

Today, the dairy also produces lighter and salt-free versions designed for modern dietary needs.

“We adapted our recipes to create equally flavorful cheeses without using industrial production methods,” says Maraki.

The result is a catalog of nearly 30 dairy products, including cheeses, milk, butter, yogurt and sour milk drinks.

The many types of Naxian graviera

Naturally, Naxos’ most famous cheese — PDO-certified Graviera Naxou — holds a central role.

Koufopoulos himself played a key part in establishing the cheese’s Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status. But alongside the classic version, the dairy produces multiple variations: intensely aged Graviera matured for two or even five years, lighter low-fat and salt-free versions, toast-friendly cheeses and goat’s milk varieties for more adventurous palates.

Then there is Naxion, the dairy’s version of Arseniko — another iconic Cycladic cheese. Made from cow’s milk blended with sheep and goat milk, it comes in several forms, including versions aged in olive oil and herbs or matured inside olive sediment (mourga), which gives it a sharper, more pungent flavor.

Cheese shaped by the island itself

Koufopoulos’ creativity appears endless — just like the ingredients produced by Naxos’ fertile landscape.

That spirit led to the creation of Galatero, a soft, mild cheese made primarily from cow’s milk with a touch of sheep and goat milk. Its personality comes from the ingredients folded into it: prunes, leek, sun-dried tomato, paprika and seasonal additions that transform it into a contemporary cheese perfectly suited to modern wine bars.

Hard cheeses dominate the collection, but the fresh cheeses are equally compelling and deeply rooted in Cycladic tradition.

There is Myzithra, Kopanisti, Kopanotyri, Touloumotyri, Xinotyri and Tsimiskaki — Naxos’ semi-hard, unofficial answer to feta.

At one point, the dairy even produced its own version of blue cheese.

“We managed to find the mold culture and created it,” Maraki says. “But we no longer have access to that mold, so we stopped making it. Everything here is done naturally.”

Supporting local farmers

Every product is made exclusively with milk from local producers, without compromising quality.

Like all PDO-certified producers in Greece, Koufopoulos Dairy undergoes constant inspections and quality controls. But beyond regulations, the company’s philosophy has always centered on close cooperation with the island’s livestock farmers — some of whom have worked with the family since the business officially began in 1990.

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“We collaborate with small-scale producers so we can monitor the animals’ diet closely,” Maraki explains. “None of them use genetically modified feed because that affects both the flavor and the quality of the final product. We help producers feed their animals natural Greek feed and, whenever possible, grasses from Naxos itself. It matters not only where the animal lives, but what grows in that land and nourishes it.”

Bringing Naxos to Athens

In 2009, the family opened a second store in Halandri, a lively suburb of Athens, designed as a sister shop to their original store on Naxos.

Stepping inside feels like stepping onto the island itself.

Refrigerators overflow with cheeses from the dairy — soft, semi-hard and aged wheels lined up for tasting. Visitors are welcomed by warm, enthusiastic staff who may not all be native Naxians but have fallen in love with the island and its culinary richness.

Beyond the full Koufopoulos cheese range, the shop also offers premium meats sourced exclusively from Naxos — an island famous since antiquity for its livestock farming, particularly sheep and goats.

“I would never sell non-Naxian meat as Naxian,” says Manos, who runs the butcher section. “I’d rather tell customers we’re out of stock than deceive them. We have personal relationships with our customers. Even the chickens arrive only by order.”

The store also carries the island’s celebrated Naxian potatoes, fresh produce, citrus liqueurs and traditional pasta.

Looking beyond Greece

Expansion plans are always under discussion.

“There are always thoughts about opening more stores — not only in Athens but abroad as well,” says Maraki. “But the costs are significant, and it’s not easy for a production business to absorb them. We move very carefully and avoid major risks.”

For now, the dairy exports products to delicatessens across Europe and the United States.

“In France, our cheeses are especially well established because they truly value tradition there,” she adds.

True love for cheese

For Koufopoulos and his team, tradition and quality remain non-negotiable.

“We work hard to keep our quality stable and avoid raising prices, even though production costs have increased dramatically,” Maraki says. “Being honest and genuine with consumers has helped us tremendously. People now know exactly where to turn for each product.”

And perhaps that is the greatest reward for a family business driven not only by vision but by genuine love for its craft.

Koufopoulos and his team love Naxos deeply. They honor its traditions not through nostalgia, but by transforming them into cheeses with real substance — cheeses that reveal, in every bite, not just flavor, but the story of an entire island.