Mavrodaphne Winery

One of Jim's goals here in the Pelopponese was to visit this winery. the wine he loves is dark red and sweet and not easy to get at home... costs a lot more there when he can find it. the first wine was produced here by a Bavarian, Achaia Clauss. he established a village here where people lived and worked on the vineyards and winery. this is an immense estate, with gigantic barrels around all over the place. we had a wine tasting and then short tour, which included a building containing more than i could count barrels of fermenting wine. the ends of some of the barrels were engraved in honor of various important people who had visited. there is even a barrel of the first wine produced in 1873! well, that's hard to believe... but that's what our tour guide told us... They also make a wonderful Moscato... be still my heart... also a sweet after dinner wine. so.. back in the tasting room, purchases were made and both Jim and Chris left carrying several bottle of both Mavrodaphne and Moscato. wondering how much of that will actually make it back to US with us. the story/myth goes that Mr. Clauss was madly in love with a young beauty named Daphne who had beguiling black hair, so named the wine and winery Mavro- (Greek for "black") and Daphne for his lover. sweet story. i'd have loved to have seen this establishment in its prime... must have really been amazing. they do still grow the grapes here and make the wine, but only 1 family lives here now. i wish there were a way that Jim could get a start of some of these vines... but besides them being "protected" for this area, it would be impossible to get them thru customs.

p.s. we've almost finished a bottle of each.