Ktima Driopi

Ktima Driopi was founded in 2003 when Yiannis Tselepos, the French-trained oenologist who had established his family wine business in Mantinia in 1989, purchased a 9-hectare vineyard of approximately 50-year-old Agiorgitiko vines in the village of Koutsi within the Nemea PDO. The acquisition extended the Tselepos family project from its Mantinia and Moschofilero anchor into the dedicated red-wine territory of Nemea, with the new estate operating under its own Driopi label while sharing oenological direction and operational management with the parent operation. The Driopi name is a transliteration of Δρυοπή, linked in regional usage to the ancient Dryopes people associated with various parts of the Peloponnese, giving the project an identity distinct from the Tselepos family surname. The 2003 founding placed Driopi within the modern Nemea producer cluster that took shape through the late 1990s and 2000s, an era in which a wave of focused estate-bottling projects helped raise the international profile of Agiorgitiko alongside longer-established names such as Domaine Skouras and Gaia Wines.

• Yiannis Tselepos founded Ktima Driopi in 2003 with the purchase of a 9-hectare old-vine Agiorgitiko vineyard in the village of Koutsi within Nemea PDO.
• The acquisition extended the Tselepos family project from its Mantinia and Moschofilero anchor (established 1989) into dedicated Nemea and Agiorgitiko territory.
• The Driopi name (Δρυοπή) is linked in regional usage to the ancient Dryopes people of the Peloponnese, giving the project an identity distinct from the family surname.
• Founded within the modern Nemea producer cluster that took shape through the late 1990s and 2000s alongside Skouras, Gaia, and a wider circle of estate-bottling projects.

Driopi's 9-hectare vineyard sits in Koutsi at approximately 380 metres of elevation, within the semi-mountainous band of the Nemea PDO that is widely considered the appellation's most ambitious terroir register for Agiorgitiko. Koutsi is one of the villages most often cited in working terroir discussions of Nemea, valued for clay-influenced soils, breezy mid-elevation exposures, and slower ripening than the warmer valley floor. The vineyard's defining viticultural asset is the age of its vines: the 50-year-old plantings present at the time of acquisition supply concentrated old-vine fruit, naturally moderate yields, and structural depth across the cuvee range. Following the 2003 purchase, the estate replanted a portion of the parcel to selected virus-free Agiorgitiko clones while maintaining the remainder of the older block under low-yield viticulture, with reported yields of roughly 6 to 7 tonnes per hectare. The Koutsi material is the single source of fruit for both the Driopi Classic and Driopi Reserve bottlings.

• 9-hectare vineyard at approximately 380 metres of elevation in Koutsi, within the semi-mountainous subzone of Nemea PDO.
• Koutsi is one of the appellation's signature villages for ambitious Agiorgitiko, with clay-influenced soils and slower mid-elevation ripening.
• Approximately 50-year-old vines at acquisition supply concentrated old-vine fruit; a portion of the parcel was replanted to virus-free Agiorgitiko clones after 2003.
• Yields held at roughly 6 to 7 tonnes per hectare, with the Koutsi material serving as the single source for both Classic and Reserve bottlings.

The Driopi range organises around two principal cuvees, both 100 percent Agiorgitiko from the estate's Koutsi vineyard. Driopi Classic is the accessible Nemea PDO expression, fermented with controlled extraction and aged for approximately 8 to 10 months in used French oak, an approach designed to preserve the variety's red-fruit purity and old-vine concentration without overlaying significant new-oak structure. Driopi Reserve is the estate's structural and age-worthy expression, aged for 12 months in French oak with a typical mix of 70 percent new barrels and 30 percent second-use, followed by approximately 6 months of bottle aging before release. The new-oak component contributes integrated vanilla, cedar, and sweet spice that supports the wine's red and dark cherry, plum, and lifted herbaceous character, with 14 percent alcohol that reviewers have consistently noted as well integrated. Reserve has been the most internationally visible Driopi bottling, earning consistent press recognition across recent vintages and standing as one of the reference contemporary Reserve-tier Nemea wines. A small rose bottling has also appeared from time to time within the broader Tselepos family portfolio drawing on Agiorgitiko fruit.

• Driopi Classic: 100 percent Agiorgitiko aged approximately 8 to 10 months in used French oak; designed to preserve red-fruit purity and old-vine concentration.
• Driopi Reserve: 12 months in French oak (typically 70 percent new and 30 percent second-use) followed by around 6 months of bottle aging before release.
• Reserve typically shows red and dark cherry, plum, sweet spice, and lifted herbaceous character with 14 percent alcohol integrated alongside the oak.
• Reserve has earned consistent international press recognition across recent vintages and stands as a reference contemporary Reserve-tier Nemea bottling.

Ktima Driopi operates within the broader Tselepos family wine business, which spans the Mantinia-anchored family estate in Arcadia and the Nemea-anchored Driopi estate as two distinct projects under shared oenological direction. The dual-appellation footprint is unusual among Peloponnese producers and gives the family a presence across the two most internationally cited Peloponnesian PDOs: Mantinia for the white-wine flagship Moschofilero and Nemea for the red-wine flagship Agiorgitiko. International distribution moves through specialist Greek wine importers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Continental Europe, with the Tselepos family business also active in export markets across East Asia where it has worked with regional distribution partners to develop the premium Greek wine category. The Driopi label has carried meaningful weight within this footprint, with the Reserve in particular serving as the family's calling card for Agiorgitiko in international restaurant and retail channels.

• Driopi operates within the Tselepos family wine business, sharing oenological direction and commercial channels with the Mantinia-anchored family estate.
• Dual-appellation footprint spans Mantinia and Moschofilero (white flagship) and Nemea and Agiorgitiko (red flagship), unusual among Peloponnese producers.
• International distribution through specialist Greek wine importers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Continental Europe, with active export presence in East Asia.
• Driopi Reserve serves as the family's primary international calling card for Agiorgitiko in restaurant and retail channels.

Within the modern Nemea producer cluster, Ktima Driopi sits alongside Domaine Skouras (founded 1986) and Gaia Wines (which built its Nemea estate in Koutsi in the 1990s) as one of the producers most often cited in international coverage of contemporary Agiorgitiko. The Tselepos family's approach, shaped by Yiannis Tselepos's French oenology training and Burgundy experience, sits stylistically toward the precision and elegance end of the modern Nemea spectrum, working in dialogue with the higher-elevation focused approach of Gaia and the wider portfolio approach of Skouras. Beyond these names, the appellation includes a wider circle of producers such as Mitravelas, Lafkiotis, Palyvos, Lantides, Bizios, and the historic Nemea Wine Cooperative, with the working terroir map of the PDO often described in terms of valley-floor, semi-mountainous, and high-altitude registers. Nemea is one of the founding Greek appellations in the original 1971 OPAP cohort and was harmonised into the unified EU PDO framework following the post-2008 reforms, with Driopi operating under the Nemea PDO across its principal red bottlings.

• Driopi sits alongside Domaine Skouras (founded 1986) and Gaia Wines (Nemea estate built in Koutsi in the 1990s) among the producers most cited in international Agiorgitiko coverage.
• Tselepos family approach, shaped by French oenology training, sits stylistically toward the precision and elegance end of the modern Nemea spectrum.
• Wider Nemea cluster includes Mitravelas, Lafkiotis, Palyvos, Lantides, Bizios, and the historic Nemea Wine Cooperative.
• Nemea is a founding 1971 OPAP appellation, later harmonised into the unified EU PDO framework; Driopi bottles under Nemea PDO across its principal red wines.