Patras wine tasting is a visit to the estates around the Gulf of Patras, where Mavrodaphne, Roditis and Muscat grapes grow. More tours across the country are listed on Greece Tours.
This page lists the wineries and wines, the steps of a winery visit, the tours that include a tasting, the right months and how to book.
What is Patras wine tasting?
It is a visit to a winery in the hills and suburbs around the Gulf of Patras. The visit ends with a glass of local wine. Patras wine tasting centres on Mavrodaphne, a dark sweet red. It also pours dry and sweet whites from the Roditis and Muscat grapes.
The city is built at the foot of Mount Panachaikon and looks out over the Gulf of Patras. Wineries stand on its edge. Achaia Clauss sits in the village of Petroto. Parparoussis stands in Bozaitika, and Orfanos Estate stands in Paliourgias.
The area carries four wine names. The dry white wines named after the city come mainly from the Roditis grape. Mavrodaphne of Patras is the sweet red. Muscat of Patras and Muscat of Rio Patras are the sweet whites.
A Patras wine tasting adds the setting to the glass. The estate and its cellars are part of the visit. The rest of this page takes the visit in order, from the options to the booking.
Which Patras wine tasting options can you book?
Four routes lead to a glass. They are a winery tour and an evening with Patras Wine Club. The third is a private city tour that ends at a winery. The fourth is a private Kalavryta day trip with a winery stop. Each Patras wine tasting option books in a different place.
- Winery tour: Achaia Clauss runs guided sightseeing tours on the hour.
- Club evening: Patras Wine Club lists tastings, winery visits and other wine events on its website.
- City tour: a four-hour private city tour on GetYourGuide ends with a tasting.
- Day trip: two private GetYourGuide trips to Kalavryta add a winery stop. One lasts six hours and one lasts seven hours.
Travellers who arrive by ferry can pair a tasting with a ride from the port. Those rides are listed under Patras port transfers.
The sights of the walking route sit on our Patras city tour page. The club and the estates suit a visit by car or taxi. The tours add pickup, so nobody has to drive after a tasting.
Which wineries does Patras wine tasting visit?
Four names lead the list. They are Achaia Clauss in Petroto, Parparoussis in Bozaitika, Orfanos Estate in Paliourgias and Patras Wine Club in the city. They differ in size, age and style, so every Patras wine tasting feels different.
Achaia Clauss has storage halls with a total capacity of about 7,500 tonnes. They include the old Mavrodaphne cellar, the table wine cellar, the underground tanks and the Danielis room. The company went on to specialise in Mavrodaphne and Demestica wines.
Parparoussis is a family estate with gardens, tall eucalyptus trees and peacocks that roam the grounds. Its range includes a sweet Mavrodaphne aged three years in barrels and a Muscat of Rio Patras from estate vineyards.
Parparoussis once produced 600,000 litres. It then limited output to 100,000 bottles to put Greek grape varieties first. The larger part of its wines goes abroad.
Orfanos Estate is a family winery that has grown over four generations on two hectares bought in Paliourgias. The second generation grew Roditis Alepou, Kerino, Sultanina, Fraoula and Corinthian raisin grapes. The third generation replanted the old vineyard with Malagouzia and Mavrodaphne. The estate now works toward low-intervention winemaking.
Patras Wine Club is a wine group, not an estate. It runs tastings, winery visits and other wine activities. One of its tastings poured at least 10 labels of dry Mavrodaphne from across Achaia.
Which grapes and wines does Patras wine tasting pour?
Three grapes fill the glass. Mavrodaphne gives a dark sweet red, Roditis a dry white and Muscat a sweet white. Patras wine tasting also pours dry Mavrodaphne, a style that more producers now make.
Mavrodaphne, or black laurel, is a dark, almost opaque wine. The grape is native to Achaea in the northern Peloponnese. The wine ferments in large vats in the sun, and producers stop the fermentation with distillate from earlier vintages.
The wine then matures in underground cellars. Contact with older wine shapes the young wine in the solera method. Once aged, the wine is bottled and sold as a dessert wine under the Mavrodaphni PDO. Its notes include raisin, fig, dried fruit and dark chocolate.
Dry Mavrodaphne is the newer style. Patras Wine Club notes that more and more producers in Achaia have experimented with it over the last five years.
Roditis is a pink-skinned grape. It ripens late, and its acidity holds up in the heat of the Peloponnese and Thessaly, where it grows. A Patras wine tasting pours it as a dry white.
Muscat wines use 100 percent Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains, called Moschoudi locally. Makers dry the grapes in the sun for a naturally sweet wine or fortify the wine with spirit. The nose shows orange blossom, rose petal, citrus zest, lychee and peach.
Muscat of Rio Patras is a smaller enclave northeast of the city. Muscat of Patras covers land from near sea level to hundreds of metres up the slopes.
How does a winery visit in Patras run from arrival to tasting?
A winery visit in Patras runs in four steps. Book a slot, arrive early, tour the cellars and finish with the tasting. Achaia Clauss follows this order, and its visitors advise booking ahead of any Patras wine tasting there.
Book the slot first. Visitors to Achaia Clauss advise reserving through the website or by phone.
Arrive before mid-morning. A visitor review recommends an early start because parking fills later in the day.
Join the guided tour. The tours at Achaia Clauss cover the historic premises and the old cellars. The site also holds a wine museum and a barrel museum.
The tour ends with the tasting. At Achaia Clauss, the glass comes after the cellars and the museums.
What does the Patras city tour with wine tasting include?
The city tour with wine tasting lasts four hours for a private group and offers pickup. The stops are the Cathedral of Saint Andrew, Voudeni, the Archaeological Museum, Patras Castle and Achaia Clauss.
The listing calls the visits optional, so the party chooses the stops that fit the four hours. The winery stop is the Patras wine tasting part of the day, and it comes after the sights.
Voudeni sits 7 km north-east of Patras at 220 metres, inside the Patras Mycenaean Park. The cemetery holds 78 carved tombs, and the settlement beside it lasted about five hundred years.
The finds from Voudeni now sit in the Archaeological Museum, the next stop on the list. They include vases, clay statuettes, bronze tools, weapons and jewellery.
A second option on Viator is a private four-hour tour that pairs history and culture with Patras wine tasting. It suits parties that want a driver and a guide to themselves.
What does the Kalavryta and winery day trip include?
The Kalavryta and winery day trip lasts six hours. It drives from Patras through the mountains to Kalavryta, the Mega Spilaio Monastery and a local winery. The group is small and private, with pickup available.
The listing caps the party at six guests. It runs in English, Greek, Russian and Ukrainian. Guests who want a Patras wine tasting in the mountains, not on the coast, pick this trip.
The listing does not name the winery. The Mega Spileo Estate in Kalavryta shows what a mountain cellar offers. It overlooks the slopes of Mount Helmos and builds on a monastic winemaking tradition.
Its exclusive programmes include an option to stay at the Amario Suites Hotel in Aegio. The estate runs five tasting programmes of three to six wines each. Its entry flight pours Malagousia, Assyrtiko, a rosé and a Mavro Kalavrytino and Merlot blend.
The monastery, the cave and the railway have their own write-up under Kalavryta tours. This section covers only the wine side.
Which private Patras wine tasting suits a small group?
Both gigs above run as private groups, and the Kalavryta trip caps the party at six. Winery-led programmes add a third route for couples, families and friends, with group tiers that start at two guests.
Trigilidas Travel sells an Achaia Clauss tasting with tiers for parties of two to four and five to eight. For other sizes it quotes flexible rates on request.
Guests of that tasting meet at the winery during its opening hours, by prebooked appointment. Achaia Clauss also builds tailor-made packages for experts in the field at its winery-museum.
The Travel Insider sells a private Patras day tour that ends with a tasting at Achaia Clauss. The tour includes a deluxe air-conditioned vehicle and insurance cover during the transfers. A mobile number for emergencies works around the clock.
A smaller party gains time at each stop. A private Patras wine tasting lets the group set the pace, ask the guide questions and skip a stop.
Which months and harvest weeks suit Patras wine tasting?
Mavrodaphne is normally picked in the first half of September. That makes early September the harvest window for Patras wine tasting. The Patras International Festival adds evening events from June to September.
At picking, the small Mavrodaphne berries reach full colour and tannin. Producers who want more concentration dry the picked berries in the sun, a method called liasta.
Vineyards near Kalavryta stand between 300 and over 1,000 metres. Hot days and cold nights slow the ripening there, and the Sideritis grape ripens late.
The festival offers music, dance, film and visual arts through the summer. A Patras wine tasting in the afternoon can end with an evening show.
The Mega Spileo Estate opens Wednesday to Sunday, so plan a Kalavryta tasting on those days. The winery pages name no closed month, so check the day before you travel.
The neighbouring red-wine region has its own page, Nemea wine, for a harvest trip across the Peloponnese.
How do you reserve or cancel this Patras wine tasting?
Both gigs on this page need a booking at least 10 hours ahead and carry free cancellation. Winery programmes ask for a reservation too. A Patras and Aigialeia wine tour refunds in full when guests cancel 24 hours before the start.
The Mega Spileo Estate advises a reservation before each visit. Guests pick a programme, a time and a head count in its booking form, or write or call the estate.
Trigilidas asks for contact details and the wanted date, then confirms the booking. It sends the start time and final details by SMS or e-mail two days before the visit.
Tell the operator about food allergies, including egg and bee allergies, when you book a Patras wine tasting. Name the programme too, because each flight lists different wines. Children travel with an adult.
The Patras and Aigialeia wine tour needs good weather and a minimum number of travellers. Poor weather or a missed minimum brings a refund or a new date.
Which questions do travellers ask about this Patras wine tasting?
Can children join?
Yes. The city tour lists children aged 12 and younger as their own group, beside adults aged 13 to 99. Trigilidas sets a child rate from age 5. The Kalavryta trip lists adults only, so ask the operator first.
What do you wear?
Wear comfortable casual shoes and clothing. A Patras wine tasting at a winery needs light walking. The Voudeni park stands on a hill at 220 metres.
Can you enter the Voudeni park?
Yes. The Ministry of Culture owns the site, and it is listed as open to visitors. Opening hours are not published, so ask the operator before the day.
Can ferry guests start from the port?
Yes. A six to seven hour wine tour of Patras and Aigialeia collects guests from their stay or from the port. The two gigs above list pickup too, so a Patras wine tasting can begin at the quay.
Does the day include a meal?
The Patras and Aigialeia wine tour lists meals as included. The Trigilidas tasting serves cheese, meat and bread beside the wine.
Can you buy the wine afterwards?
Yes. The Travel Insider tour describes tasting and buying Mavrodaphne at Achaia Clauss. The winery site also sells its Castro Clauss range online, from Chardonnay to Cabernet Sauvignon.