Brian finally has a few days off so today we decided to check out the local winery here in Patras. It is called Achaia Clauss and it was amazing! It was started by a German man named Gustav Clauss who came to Patras in the late 1800's and fell in love with a local Greek girl. Also having fallen in love with the local beauty of the town he decided to build his own winery here. In 1854 he built the first wine estate in all of Greece. It is atop a mountain overlooking the city. He created a settlement, complete with cathedral towers and his home here, enabling an entire village to live, work and develop around his wine production. When we arrived we were the only soul in sight. We found the tasting room and met the two friendly servers who talked to us about the wines, the man being particularly interested in talking with Brian about NOP. We learned that this winery is the oldest one in all of Greece, and the first to ever bottle wine. It developed a wine called Mavrodaphne, named after Gustav's fiance named Daphne and her dark (mavro) eyes. This wine is now the wine used in all of the Greek Orthodox Churches and is considered a holy wine. The woman let us taste three different aged versions. One from 2004, one from 10yrs ago and the last from 20yrs ago. As it ages it gets sweeter and changes from a violet color to more of a brown shade. It was delicious. We saw a boxed version selling for 1,550 Euros and she told us that for the 2004 Olympics in Athens they bottled 108 bottles from one of the oldest barrels they have from 1896, the year of the oldest modern Olympics. She then took us on a tour of the old wine cellars (I don't think they do this for everyone, Brian is so charming ;-). The old cellars were amazing filled with old wood barrels dating back to their oldest barrel from 1873! Some of the barrels had wood carvings on the front, like in the picture, of old Greek methologies. On this barrel Athena is giving wine to Zeus. They were works of art done by a man who is now 90. Mavrodaphne is a magical wine because it lasts for seemingly forever unlike most wines that die at some point. Mavrodaphne only sweetens and improves with age, and like the wine bottled 4yrs ago from 1896, you can save your bottle of Mavrodaphne for your great grandchildren. On some of the barrels there were plaques honoring certain celebrities and royalty who have come to visit the winery over the years. She also explained to us that every three years the Mavrodaphne has to be topped off with wine from a barrel a year younger then its own so that it remains smooth and doesn't harden otherwise it will become more like a syrup. So every three years the barrel from 1873 gets topped off with a barrel from 1874 etc. It is amazing to think that that barrel we were standing in front of had been holding that same wine for over a hundred years. Unfortunately she said there was no one left who knew how to maintain these wood barrels since now a days they do all of their aging in stainless steel barrels. So these magnificent carvings will fade over time. I am so glad we were able to see them! And we plan on going back again soon. I think the man is a big fan of NOP because they gave us a free bottle of wine when we left (we also bought a bottle of their young mavrodaphne and a white).
Brian finally has a few days off so today we decided to check out the local winery here in Patras. It is called Achaia Clauss and it was amazing! It was started by a German man named Gustav Clauss who came to Patras in the late 1800's and fell in love with a local Greek girl. Also having fallen in love with the local beauty of the town he decided to build his own winery here. In 1854 he built the first wine estate in all of Greece. It is atop a mountain overlooking the city. He created a settlement, complete with cathedral towers and his home here, enabling an entire village to live, work and develop around his wine production. When we arrived we were the only soul in sight. We found the tasting room and met the two friendly servers who talked to us about the wines, the man being particularly interested in talking with Brian about NOP. We learned that this winery is the oldest one in all of Greece, and the first to ever bottle wine. It developed a wine called Mavrodaphne, named after Gustav's fiance named Daphne and her dark (mavro) eyes. This wine is now the wine used in all of the Greek Orthodox Churches and is considered a holy wine. The woman let us taste three different aged versions. One from 2004, one from 10yrs ago and the last from 20yrs ago. As it ages it gets sweeter and changes from a violet color to more of a brown shade. It was delicious. We saw a boxed version selling for 1,550 Euros and she told us that for the 2004 Olympics in Athens they bottled 108 bottles from one of the oldest barrels they have from 1896, the year of the oldest modern Olympics. She then took us on a tour of the old wine cellars (I don't think they do this for everyone, Brian is so charming ;-). The old cellars were amazing filled with old wood barrels dating back to their oldest barrel from 1873! Some of the barrels had wood carvings on the front, like in the picture, of old Greek methologies. On this barrel Athena is giving wine to Zeus. They were works of art done by a man who is now 90. Mavrodaphne is a magical wine because it lasts for seemingly forever unlike most wines that die at some point. Mavrodaphne only sweetens and improves with age, and like the wine bottled 4yrs ago from 1896, you can save your bottle of Mavrodaphne for your great grandchildren. On some of the barrels there were plaques honoring certain celebrities and royalty who have come to visit the winery over the years. She also explained to us that every three years the Mavrodaphne has to be topped off with wine from a barrel a year younger then its own so that it remains smooth and doesn't harden otherwise it will become more like a syrup. So every three years the barrel from 1873 gets topped off with a barrel from 1874 etc. It is amazing to think that that barrel we were standing in front of had been holding that same wine for over a hundred years. Unfortunately she said there was no one left who knew how to maintain these wood barrels since now a days they do all of their aging in stainless steel barrels. So these magnificent carvings will fade over time. I am so glad we were able to see them! And we plan on going back again soon. I think the man is a big fan of NOP because they gave us a free bottle of wine when we left (we also bought a bottle of their young mavrodaphne and a white).
1 comment:
Wow - great story Erica, sounds like a lovely time! I love all the background and history you give - you're an exceptional blogger!
xoxoxo
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