Achaia Clauss

Last updated
The Achaia Clauss winery, founded in 1861 by Gustav Clauss, and famous for its Mavrodaphne Oinopoieio AKhAIA KLAOUS 6.jpg
The Achaia Clauss winery, founded in 1861 by Gustav Clauss, and famous for its Mavrodaphne
Wine barrel Achaia vat.jpg
Wine barrel

Achaia Clauss is a Greek winery located in Patras in the Peloponnese. It was founded in 1861 by the Bavarian Gustav Clauss. It is most famous for its fortified red wine, Mavrodaphne. The winery was the main sponsor of the local basketball team, Apollon Achaia Clauss.

Contents

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.

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.

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.

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.

Winery

Retsina wine from Achaia Clauss. Greek restina wine.jpg
Retsina wine from Achaia Clauss.

The Achaia Clauss winery has many storage areas with a total capacity of about 7500 tonnes. The main ones are the storage of old Mavrodaphne wine, the storage of table wines, the subterranean tanks, and the Danielis storage room.

Famous visitors

Through the years many important people have visited Achaia Clauss: Eleutherios Venizelos, Melina Merkouri, empress Sissy of Austria, General Montgomery, Alexander Fleming, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Pavlos Koundouriotis, Aristotelis Onassis, Omar Sharif, King Gustav Adolf of Sweden, Kings George I, Konstantinos I and George II of Greece, Queen Alexandra of Great Britain, Queen Louise of Sweden, Queens Olga and Sofia of Greece, princess Marie Bonaparte of Greece and Denmark, Nadia Comaneci, Thanos Mikroutsikos, Manolis Glezos, Agnes Baltsa, Karolos Papoulias.

Sources

38°11′49″N21°46′12″E / 38.1969°N 21.7701°E / 38.1969; 21.7701

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Wittelsbach</span> German noble family

The House of Wittelsbach is a former Bavarian dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including the Electorate of Bavaria, the Electoral Palatinate, the Electorate of Cologne, Holland, Zeeland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Hungary, Bohemia, and Greece. Their ancestral lands of Bavaria and the Palatinate were prince-electorates, and the family had three of its members elected emperors and kings of the Holy Roman Empire. They ruled over the Kingdom of Bavaria which was created in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Achaea</span> Regional unit in Greece

Achaea or Achaia, sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaia, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. The capital is Patras which is the third largest city in Greece.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patras</span> City in Peloponnese, Greece

Patras is Greece's third-largest city and the regional capital of Western Greece, in the northern Peloponnese, 215 km (134 mi) west of Athens. The city is built at the foot of Mount Panachaikon, overlooking the Gulf of Patras.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mavrodafni</span> Variety of grape

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Order of the Redeemer</span> Order of chivalry in Greece

The Order of the Redeemer, also known as the Order of the Saviour, is an order of merit of Greece. The Order of the Redeemer is the oldest and highest decoration awarded by the modern Greek state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stone Hill Winery</span> United States historic place

Stone Hill Winery is a Missouri winery located in Hermann, Missouri, along the Missouri River, in what is called the Missouri Rhineland of the Hermann AVA. Established by German immigrants in 1847, it is the largest winery in the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greek wine</span> Wine making in Greece

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

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sterling Vineyards</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Napa Valley AVA</span> Wine region

Napa Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) located in Napa County, California. It was established by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) on January 27, 1981. 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 a historic Australian winery with National Trust certification. It is 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 is the oldest family-owned winery and vineyard in Victoria. The winery is part of Australia's First Families of Wine, a prominent Australian wine alliance.

Achaia Channel is a Greek local television station serving all of the Achaia prefecture. The station's name is translingual and the station headquarters is located in Patras. It offers movies, local programs and music, and programs and music from the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. It broadcast programs from Seven X since it was its affiliate. Efthimios Kappos, the former owner of the Corinthian station Super TV, has been the station's major shareholder. From October 2022, it started a collaboration with Plus Media broadcasting the central news bulletin. It broadcasts in Peloponnese, southern Central Greece, Aetolia, Kythira, Phocis, in the Gulf of Corinth, in the Saronic Islands, in the southern Ionian Islands, Boeotia and in western Attica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethnikis Antistaseos Square (Patras)</span>

Ethnikis Antistaseos Square is a central square in the city of Patras, Greece.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of American wine</span>

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, European settlers, namely the Spanish, 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 came up through New Spain (Mexico) and were planted in Senecu in 1629, which is near the present day town of San Antonio, New Mexico.

Gundlach Bundschu Winery is a historic winery and an outdoor concert venue located in Sonoma County. It 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 (130 ha) organic 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, organically farmed Bordeaux reds and cool climate varietal wines.

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.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salmeniko Castle</span> Castle in the Peloponnese

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. In 1461 it was the last garrison of the Byzantine Empire, holding out until eight years after the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Panachaiki F.C.</span> Football club

Panachaiki F.C. is a Greek professional football club based in Patras, Greece and they play in Super League Greece 2, the second tier of Greek football. Founded in 1891, they have reached the Greek Cup semi-finals twice, as well as the quarter-finals on ten occasions. They were the first Greek club outside both the Athens and Thessaloniki metropolitan areas to represent Greece in a European competition, the 1973–74 UEFA Cup.