Region: Ilia

The Drouva Winery is integrated into the space and activities of the Drouva Estate, located on the hills of Agios Georgios with an area of 60 acres. It is 3 km away from the town of Pyrgos, 10 km from the port of Katakolo and 8 to 6 km from the beaches of Agios Andreas, Leventochori, Skafidia. Its history begins before 1900, when it was a vast raisin-vineyard. After 1935 and the 3rd raisin crisis, raisins were uprooted and trees like apricots, oranges, olives as also vineyards (fileria, mavroudia,asproudes) were planted. The production of oil and wine began. The kokkineli of spatial winemaking stands out before the war and it is transported by carts to the “shops” of Pyrgos. Today, the spatial vinification of the estate has evolved into Drouva Winery which is managed by the3rd generation of winemakers of the family and is one of the authentic Microwineries in the country. In its privately owned vineyards, the indigenous varieties Fileri, Roditis, Agiorgitiko, Mavroudi, and Refosco or Merkoureiko are cultivated and 5 labels are produced from them, 3 varietal wines and 2 premium wines, without additives and with a small carbon footprint.

Mercouri Estate is one of the most historic wineries of Greece (maybe the most historic of its size), since its vineyard began to form around 1864, while from the end of the 19th century it was already exporting wine. Even the variety refosco which has been imported and cultivated by Mercouri Estate since 1870 was locally “named” “merkouri” or “merkoureiko” due to the influence and the importance of the winery in the area. Its history, however, is only one of its fabulous features.

Mercouri Estate, which is nowadays managed by the 4th and 5th generation of the Mercouri – Kanellakopoulos family, is one of the most reliable Greek wineries, as far as the quality of the wines is concerned over the years. The range includes 13 different wines made from indigenous and international grape varietals cultivated in the Estate plus an extra virgin olive oil made from the Estate’s privately-owned olive groves. It is also definitely one of the most beautiful ones, as far as the landscape and the architecture of its buildings are concerned, which have a colonial and Italian influence. In other words, it is a winery-model for wine tourism.

Both musicians, the couple Dionysios and Dionysia Brintziki started their winery in 1994, following the steps of their family in its viticultural tradition which began before the World War II, since 1932. However, they did not limit themselves to that. After 16 years, Estate Brintziki was the first “green” winery of Greece, with the production of organic wines with virtually zero-energy footprint: cooling (also for the vinification tanks) and heating through geothermal energy and electricity from photovoltaics.
Estate Brintziki has very good wine tourism infrastructure, with the local Water mill being the best, very close to the winery, which was renovated with respect to tradition. It also has a fully equipped kitchen, dining infrastructure but also an open-air theatre with 150 seats, a projection room with room for 80 people and a “Belvedere”, towards the vineyards and the Enipeas river which is near there and gives its name to many wines of the estate. Finally, it is one of the few Greek wineries with a guesthouse.

Ktima Stavropoulos has special concerns as far as the environment is concerned, but also the production of grape. Thus it cultivates each of its vineyards organically and depending on its characteristics, each of its vineyards is dedicated to particular varieties. Stavropoulos Estate winery is modern, was opened in 2000 and its secondary building houses a photovoltaic system. It is also certified for the production of wine made of organically cultivated grapes and functions in three levels. Ktima Stavropoulos cultivates only a few varieties of grape for a few wine codes, solely from grapes of privately-owned vineyards, aiming at the maximum possible quality, respecting tradition and natural products.

Olympia Land Estate is located in a small village, Koskina, only two kilometers from the heart of Ancient Olympia, but very close to Pyrgos (20 km). In the place where our ancestors 150 years ago began the cultivation of raisins and wine grapes varieties.Today the Olympia Land Estate is a family winery that began to produce small quantities of quality wines in the early 2000, and since 2008 creates the modern winery of the estate.