Acheon Winery
- Griechische Weine
- Jun 29, 2021
- 2 min read
Acheon Winery (stressed on the last syllable) lies between the Meganitis river to the west and, much closer, the Selinous to the east, not far from the town of Aigio, within the eponymous Aigialeia region, whose wine Pausanias already praised.
A very thorough introduction to the unique terroir of the corresponding PGI is provided by Yiannis Karakasis in this blog post. As he points out, a PDO label tailored to the Roditis variety would make a lot of strategic sense going forward. As things stand, they appear grouped together with Roditis wines from, in some cases, quite different conditions, as PDO Patras.
The winery's history goes back to the grandfather of today's owners, Luke Katsikostas, who began making wine from local varieties in 1946.
Acheon Winery was then founded in 1962 by his son, Constantine Katsikostas. Severe earthquake damage in 1995 forced the estate into an almost complete restart. After the family patriarch's sudden death in 2004, the third generation took over the business and carried out significant renovations and modernisations through to 2018.
The small family business, which employs five people, is led oenologically by Sosanna Katsikosta, who brings a wealth of experience from France. She's supported by Katerina Katsikosta as sales manager and Luke Katsikostas as production manager. (Details on the team can be found here.)
The autochthonous varieties the estate has dedicated itself to are grown at elevations of 500 to 1000m, at an average elevation of 860m and a 35% slope. (The difference between mountain and valley in Aigio amounts to 6°C in temperature and 386mm in rainfall.) The north to north-east exposure allows for all-day sun exposure while also bringing cool winds generated by the nearby Gulf of Corinth – while the mountains block hot inland winds. The day-night temperature difference ranges between 10 and 20°C.
The winery stands out for having set some very creative accents in recent years. For instance, the Mavrodaphne variety, otherwise known mainly as a sweet wine from PDO Mavrodaphne of Patras, is vinified by Acheon Winery as a fresh red wine and sold under the name "Laura Nera". Also original is the vinification of Roditis (Fox) grapes with skin contact – what comes across as a modern "orange wine" is in fact a wine style established in the region since antiquity. Innovation and tradition simply belong together here. The estate correspondingly also puts up a very exemplary fight against the EU-promoted displacement of the local Sideritis variety by international varieties.
It's very much to be hoped that these wines will soon be available to buy in Germany too. In the meantime, you can find out about the family's work on their website and follow them on Facebook or Instagram – or have a sip out in the vineyard.
Tasting notes:
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