The Greek winery "Mercouri Estate", with its headquarters near the city of Olympia in the western
Peloponnese, was founded in 1860 by Theodore Mercouri from Alexandria (Egypt). In 1870 he imported the Italian variety Refosco from Friuli and planted his first vineyard. At that time wine was exported to Trieste in barrels. But olive oil and currants (raisins) were also produced (even today). The son of the founder, Leonidas Mercouri, built the first modern winery in this area in the 1930's and ran the estate until 1955, when grapes were produced but no wine was made. In 1990, the estate was reactivated by brothers Vassilis and Christos Kanellakopoulos, who are Mercouri's fourth generation descendants. They introduced a new Refosco clone, whereby the vine is traditionally called Mercouri here. There is a lot of experimentation with autochthonous and foreign grape varieties.
The vineyards are planted with the red wine varieties Avgoustiatis, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache Noir, Mavrodaphne, Merlot, Mourvèdre, Refosco, Sangiovese and Syrah, and the white wine varieties Malvasia Aromatica, Ribolla Gialla, Roditis, Sauvignon Blanc, Tourkopoula and Viognier. The flagship wines are the red wine Ktima Mercouri from the Refosco (85%) and Mavrodaphne (15%) varieties, and the white wine Foloi from the Roditis variety. A speciality is the Hortes, produced only in small quantities, which is made from dried Mavrodaphne and Korinthiaki grapes, matured for five years in oak barrels and is blended to 18% alcohol content. Furthermore, the red wine Antaris (Avgoustiatis, Mourvèdre), the Rosé Orion (Grenache Noir) and the white wines Kallisto (Tourkopoula, Ribolla Giala) and Coma Berenices (Viognier) are produced.
