Greek women winemakers promote their wines worldwide
Bonello Athens presented the program “Greek Women Winemakers – The Power of She!” intending to promote the wines of the Peloponnese region by Greek women winemakers.
The Bonello Athens wine marketing project, a nominee for the Wine Travel Awards 2022-2023 in the Wine & Food Influencer/Expert Opinion category and winner of the public vote, created the program “Greek Women Winemakers – The Power of She!”, where three young Greek women winemakers from the Peloponnese peninsula – Sosanna Katsikosta/Acheon Winery, Katerina Bosinakis/Bosinakis Winery, and Theodora Rouvalis/Rouvalis Winery – joined forces to promote their regions and wines in different countries around the world.
The initiative provides participating winemakers a unique opportunity to use European marketing assistance programs and promote their wines worldwide, targeting major international markets such as the USA, Canada, China, Japan, and others.
First and foremost, the Greek women winemakers visited the USA and Canada, where they held a series of free public events for wine lovers, as well as a range of events for trade professionals and the media. At each meeting, visitors had the opportunity to taste wines from local grape varieties from the wineries of Sosanna, Katerina, and Theodora.
The participants of the project
Sosanna Katsikosta. Acheon Winery
Acheon Winery focuses on vinifying local grape varieties grown in the mountainous region of Aegialia and producing high-quality wines that express their unique terroir and contribute to the growth and reputation of the region worldwide.
The winery was founded in 1946, and since 2004, Sosanna Katsikosta and her brother Luke have taken over the management of Acheon Winery, carefully preserving the family’s long-standing winemaking traditions.
Sosanna Katsikosta is the head winemaker of Acheon Winery. Her dream has always been to create exquisite wines that reflect the beauty of the local grape varieties of her homeland. Before starting her own winery, Sosanna worked at Château Margaux and Château Latour Martillac.
Sosanna studied viticulture in Nemea, then in Bordeaux and Toulouse, where she obtained a diploma in oenology, as well as at the University of Reims, where she earned a master’s degree in wine marketing.
Today, she diligently works with the Roditis Fox, Sideritis, and Mavrodaphne grape varieties cultivated in the PGI Achaia and PDO Patras, creating wines of very unique identity.
Katerina Bosinakis. Bosinakis Winery
Bosinakis Winery has strong family traditions in winemaking and a deep passion for quality wine. The family got involved in winemaking forty years ago when Fotis Bosinakis and his wife Christina inherited a wine distribution network from their parents. In 1992, the couple built their own winery in Steno, a small village in the centre of Mantinia, where they cultivate the aromatic Moschofilero grape.
Fotis and Christina Bosinakis’ children, Sotiris, Katerina, and Konstantinos, have always been actively involved in the winery’s life. Armed with decades of knowledge and the great potential of Moschofilero, the younger generation of the Bosinakis family bottled their first PDO Bosinakis Mantinia in 2009. In 2015, they released Ieria, their first rosé in the Provence style. The new generation of winemakers specializes in small-batch wines from single vineyards.
The unique microclimate of Mantinia and over 30 years of experience have inspired the family to create products that contribute to the PDO Mantinia. Bosinakis Winery was among the first to experiment with the ageing potential of Moschofilero. Сomplexity without sacrificing elegance – that is what they strive for!
Theodora Rouvalis. Rouvalis Winery
The pioneering gravity-flow winery, Rouvalis, located in the heart of Aegialia, has been producing wine since 1990.
The height, rocky outcrops, carefully selected small plots of land, and terraced vineyards towering over the Gulf of Corinth create an ideal place for “heroic viticulture.”
As descendants of Angelos Rouvalis, Theodora Rouvalis and her partner, Spanish oenologist Antonio Ruiz Pañego, have brought their dedication, expertise, and extensive knowledge to the winery. They now create wines with individuality that reflect the distinctive and unique terroir of Aegialia, one of the most fascinating wine regions in the world.
Theodora Rouvalis, a creative winemaker and viticulturist with international experience, love, and deep wine knowledge, took over the management of the winery in 2017, bringing a fresh perspective.
Theodora Rouvalis studied oenology at the Technological Educational Institute in Athens and Valencia Polytechnic University. She then attended the “Viticulture and Terroir” graduate program at the University of Burgundy. She has worked at renowned wineries such as Domaine Clos de Tart (Burgundy), Château Margaux (Bordeaux), Domaine Muré (Alsace), Villa Maria (New Zealand), Gandolini and Ventolera (Chile), and Domaine Mercouri (Greece).