Appellation on the north coast of the Greek peninsula Peloponnese. It is named after the port city of the same name (Greek: Patra) and capital of the region of western Greece on the Gulf of Patras in the Ionian Sea. In the 19th century, mainly currants ( sultanas) were exported to Great Britain and France via Patras. While buying currants, the German Gustav Clauss (1825-1908) came to the area and founded Achaia Clauss in 1872, one of the largest and still existing wine trading companies in Greece. The vineyards cover around 4,000 hectares of vines in the district of Achaia, making Patras the largest POP area in Greece. Most of it forms a contiguous unit, but there are also many small vineyard islands. The autochthonous grape varieties Mavrodaphne, Roditis, Sideritis and Korinthiaki, as well as Moschato Aspro (Muscat Blanc) are mainly cultivated here. There are four POP appellations in total. Patras covers the whole area, the other three appellations are each more narrowly defined areas or enclaves.
The white wine Patras is produced purely from Roditis and is dry, semi-dry and "lieblich" vinified. The sweet white wines Muscat of Patras and Muscat of Rio Patras (Rio is a municipality) are pressed single-varietally from Moschato Aspro and produced as Vin doux naturel (spritted) or Vin naturellement doux. The sweet red wine Mavrodaphne of Patras is made from Mavrodaphne and Korinthiaki in the port style. It must mature in wooden barrels for at least one year. After two years in the barrel and one year in the bottle, it can be called Reserve, and after seven years (at least three each in barrel and bottle) Grand Reserve. Well-known producers are Achaia Clauss, Antonopoulos, Katogi Averoff, Kourtakis, Parparoussis and Tetramythos.
Greece map: By Pitichinaccio - own work, CC BY 3.0, link
edited by Norbert F. J. Tischelmayer 2/2018
