Sotiris Karagiannis

The Path

Technical training at University of West Attica gave Karagiannis the framework for a profession that depends on method, timing, and control. His earliest employed work at Antonopoulos Vineyards from 2001 established the daily discipline of winemaking in practice, before his move in 2013 to a collaborator role at Achaia Clauss in Patras PDO of Greece. That step placed him more firmly inside the region’s winemaking field, where the work is measured against place as much as against process. Today, Sotiris is winemaker of Achaia Clauss and Head Oenologist of House of Clauss Group. The role spans cellar work and oversight, with responsibility for keeping a house with a long memory moving in a present that asks for constant judgment.

The Work Today

Karagiannis now serves as winemaker at Achaia Clauss in Patras, Greece, where geography sets the terms of the work and technique has to answer to it. His own words point to the practical scale of the job: “One of the most unique and fascinating aspects of the House of Clauss Group is the diversity of challenges I am called to work on.” He adds, “We are dealing with entirely different terroirs, spread across varying altitudes — from 150 meters up to nearly 1,000 meters above sea level.” In that range, the work becomes a matter of reading differences clearly: exposures, elevation, and the distinct expressions each site asks for. Within that frame, his specialty is Mavrodaphne. At a house closely tied to Patras, the grape gives his work a fixed reference point, linking site, tradition, and technique. As Head Oenologist of House of Clauss Group, he also works across different conditions, shaping separate parcels into a coherent standard. The clearest expression of his experimental approach is Castro Clauss, introduced in 2017: an innovative line of wines produced entirely without the use of electricity at any stage of production. The method is defined by limitation, and by the decision to let manual work carry the process from start to finish.

Signature

Sotiris's signature wines include Castro Clauss.

In Their Words “ We are dealing with entirely different terroirs, spread across varying altitudes — from 150 meters up to nearly 1,000 meters above sea level.”

Acclaim

Recognition around Karagiannis comes through place, grape, and method. Castro Clauss gives his work a named result from 2017, while Mavrodaphne defines the specialty most associated with his role in Patras. The tension in the work is geographic and historical at once. “The tranquility and energy of this place naturally inspire creativity — the drive to experiment with new products while honoring the century-old winemaking tradition that defines us.” That line describes the balance his work asks for: testing new forms inside an old address, with 1861 still present in the background.