History
In 1859, Gustav Clauss, a representative of the Bavarian company Fels and Co., purchased an area of 60 acres (240,000 m2) of land from the landowner George Kostakis in Riganokampos in Patras at an altitude of 500 meters. His initial interest was in blackcurrants, but he built a summer residence there, where he planted a few vines as a hobby.
Riganokampos is a neighbourhood in the eastern part of the city of Patras by the foot of the Panachaiko mountains.
The blackcurrant or black currant is a woody shrub in the family Grossulariaceae grown for its berries. It is native to temperate parts of central and northern Europe and northern Asia where it prefers damp fertile soils and is widely cultivated both commercially and domestically. It is winterhardy, but cold weather at flowering time during the spring reduces the size of the crop. Bunches of small, glossy black fruit develop along the stems in the summer and can be harvested by hand or by machine. The raw fruit is particularly rich in vitamin C and polyphenol phytochemicals. Blackcurrants can be eaten raw but are usually cooked in a variety of sweet or savoury dishes. They are used to make jams, jellies and syrups and are grown commercially for the juice market. The fruit is also used in the preparation of alcoholic beverages and both fruit and foliage have uses in traditional medicine and the preparation of dyes.
In 1861 he established the winery Achaia Clauss, which initially was managed by the estate of the Jakob Klipfel company. The first years of Achaia Clauss were extremely difficult since the property was attacked almost daily by gangs of brigands. The new venture nevertheless managed to survive and to establish itself in the region through its links with the central government of the Bavarian King Otto.
Otto was a Bavarian prince who became the first modern King of Greece in 1832 under the Convention of London. He reigned until he was deposed in 1862.
In 1872 the owners of Fels and Co., together with Theodor Harburger and Gustav Clauss, founded the "Achaia Wine Company". From 1873 until 1881 the company was managed by Emil Werl, and from 1883 by Gustav Clauss himself. From 1908 the company specialised in production of the Mavrodaphne and Demestica wines.
Clauss died shortly after, and the company passed into the hands of a German named Gudert from whom on the outbreak of World War I the Greek government confiscated the winery as an enemy alien asset. In 1920 it passed into the ownership of Vlassis Antonopoulos, and from then on, with a slight pause during the German occupation in World War II, the company developed rapidly.
World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.
A major landmark was in 1955 when the company took on Konstantinos Antonopoulos, who installed new machines in the winery and recruited a team of specialists. In 1983 the company launched their new bottling plant. In 1997 the position of chairman and chief executive was taken by Nikos Karapanos.
Since its establishment the site has always been a popular destination for visitors and continues to be so.
Achaea or Achaia, sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaia, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of West Greece and is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. The capital is Patras. Its population surpassed 300,000 for the first time in 2001.
Mavrodaphni, Mavrodaphne, or Mavrodafni is both a black wine grape indigenous to the Achaea region in Northern Peloponnese, Greece, and the sweet, fortified wine first produced from it by Gustav Clauss in around 1850.
Greece is one of the oldest wine-producing regions in the world and among the first wine-producing territories in Europe. The earliest evidence of Greek wine has been dated to 6,500 years ago where wine was produced on a household or communal basis. In ancient times, as trade in wine became extensive, it was transported from end to end of the Mediterranean; Greek wine had especially high prestige in Italy under the Roman Empire. In the medieval period, wines exported from Crete, Monemvasia and other Greek ports fetched high prices in northern Europe.
Sterling Vineyards is a winery near Calistoga, California, owned by Treasury Wine Estates. The winery achieved international recognition when its wine won first place in the Ottawa Wine Tasting of 1981.
Mayacamas Vineyards is a California wine producer located in the Mt. Veeder AVA in the Mayacamas Mountains within the Napa Valley AVA, bordering the Sonoma Valley AVA. The estate is known for producing wine of a more traditional style than the Napa trends of recent years that emphasizes power, weight, high levels of alcohol and extravagance.
Napa Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in Napa County in California's Wine Country. Napa Valley is considered one of the premier wine regions in the world. Records of commercial wine production in the region date back to the nineteenth century, but premium wine production dates back only to the 1960s.
Tahbilk Winery is an Australian winery located 120 km (75 mi) north of Melbourne between the townships of Seymour and Nagambie in the Nagambie Lakes a sub region of Goulburn Valley Wine Region. It was established in 1860, and claims to be the oldest family-owned winery in Victoria. The winery is part of Australia's First Families of Wine, a prominent Australian wine alliance.
Olgas Square is the older and popular name for the Ethnikis Antistaseos Square in the city of Patras, Greece.
The History of American wine began when the first Europeans explored parts of North America, which they called Vinland because of the profusion of grape vines found there. However, settlers would later discover that the wine made from the various native grapes, had flavors which were unfamiliar and which they did not like. This led to repeated efforts to grow familiar Vitis vinifera varieties. The first vines of Vitis vinifera origin were planted in Senecu in 1629, which is near the present day town of San Antonio, New Mexico.
Gundlach Bundschu Winery is California's oldest continuously family-owned winery, and is the second oldest winery after Buena Vista Winery. It is still owned and operated by the founder's heirs and today led by the sixth generation, Jeff Bundschu. The winery's 320-acre (1.3 km2) estate vineyard, named Rhinefarm by Bavarian-born Jacob Gundlach in 1858, is located within the Sonoma Valley AVA of Sonoma County, at the crossroads of the Sonoma Valley, Los Carneros AVA and Napa Valley AVA, along the Mayacamas Mountains. They specialize in estate-driven, sustainably farmed Bordeaux reds and cool climate varietal wines.
Panic Spring is a novel by Lawrence Durrell, published in 1937 by Faber and Faber in Britain and Covici-Friede in the United States under the pseudonym Charles Norden. It is set on a fictional Greek Island, Mavrodaphne, in the Ionian Sea somewhere between Patras, Kephalonia, and Ithaca. The island, however, resembles Corfu strongly, and in at least one inscribed copy of the novel, Durrell includes a map of Corfu identified as Mavrodaphne.
Prapopoulos Bros s.a. is a privately owned company involved in the production and distribution of agricultural, industrial and vineyard equipment based in Patras, Greece.
Simi Winery is a winery in California in the United States.
Lagorthi is a white Greek wine grape, well known despite its fairly small planting. It produces a moderately aromatic wine with relatively low fruit and alcohol content.
The Salmeniko Castle or Orgia or Oria Castle was a castle at the foot of Panachaiko mountain, in the modern municipality of Aigialeia, Achaea, Greece.
Benovia Winery is a family-owned producer of Pinot noir, Chardonnay, and Zinfandel wines in Santa Rosa, California. Founded in 2005 by Joe Anderson and Mary Dewane, Benovia Winery farms three estate vineyards which total 71.67 acres (290,000 m2) and are located in the Russian River Valley AVA and Sonoma Coast AVA in Sonoma County. To supplement the fruit it harvests each year, Benovia purchases additional grapes from two sites farmed by the Martinelli family. Benovia's winemaker, Mike Sullivan, is also co-owner of the winery. Benovia wines are produced and bottled at the winery's winemaking facilities at the Martaella Estate Vineyard in the Russian River Valley AVA. Annual production is approximately 6,000 cases. Benovia wines are sold direct to customers, as well as distributed to restaurants and other retailers for resale.
Tintara is an Australian winery located in McLaren Vale, South Australia within the McLaren Vale wine region. The winery was established in 1861 and incorporated in the 1862 as the Tintara Vineyard Company by Alexander Kelly, a medical physician and winemaker who wrote the early Australian winemaking and viticultural text Winegrowing in Australia and The Vine in Australia. Several prominent figures in the early history of South Australia and McLaren Vale were initial investors in the winery including the founder of the University of Adelaide, Walter Watson Hughes, landowner Samuel Davenport and politician Thomas Elder. Today the winery holds the distinction of producing the oldest surviving bottle of Australian wine—an 1867 Tintara Vineyard claret. The Tintara wine earned the distinction when the previous record holder, an 1864 bottle of Pewsey Vale Cabernet Sauvignon, was accidentally broken by an office cleaner at Christie's auction house.
Kingston Estate was established in 1979 by Sarantos and Constantina Moularadellis when they planted 40 acres of vines in South Australia's Riverland.
Panachaiki 1891 Football Club is a football club based in Patras, Greece. Founded in 1891, they have reached the Greek Cup semi-finals twice, as well as the quarter-finals on ten occasions. Moreover, they were the first Greek club outside Athens and Thessaloniki to represent Greece in a European competition, the 1973–74 UEFA Cup.
