Most wine produced and consumed in Greece is made by Tsantalis , Kourtakis, Boutaris ( and its subsidiary Cambas ) and Achaia Clauss. All four were established sometime in the previous century . The oldest is Achaia Clauss which was established by the Bavarian Gustav Clauss in Patra in 1861 and was bought by local owners in 1920. Achaia Clauss was also the first Grek bottled wine, Demesticha.

Cambas was established in 1868 and in 1991 became a subsidiary of Boutaris , established in 1879.These two companies followed by Tsantalis, which begun operating in 1890 and Kourtakis in 1895.

All four companies export to many countries , while they essentially control the domestic market through extensive distribution networks. To support their profits , a few of them have restored to picking up dealer ships for foreign wines, beers and alcoholic beverages. Tsantalis, meanwhile, is particularly well known abroad for ouzo.

According to research carried out by Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research ( IOBE ) , Boutaris and Kourtakis each control 20 percent of the domestic market for bottled wine, folloewd by Tsantalis ( 17 percent ), Malamatinas ( 12 percent, retsina only ) , Achaia Clauss ( 8 percent ) and Cambas (4 percent ). Tsantalis takes the lead in exports , followed by Kourtakis, Boutaris and Achaia - Clauss. Boutaris tops exports to the Americas and Tsantalis is stocked by duty free shops in many international airports. At the same time Kourtakis managed to land the contract for supplying Lufthansa airlines ant the Tokyo- Osaka rail route.

Small producers

The largest and best known is Hatzimichalis, while Carras has been an established name on the market for decades and has a significant export presence.Among others are also Spyropoulos, Protopapas, Parparoussis, Antonopoulos, Lazaridis, Vassiliou , the '' Semeli'' and '' Strofilia '' labels. All these private wine makers, both large and small, are represented by the Association of Greek Wine makers.

Cooperatives

The largest producers in the country, cooperatives still account for 70 percent of Greece's total output and hold 20 percent of the market in bottled wines. Some 200 000 vineyards are registered with the Central Union of Wine Cooperatives in Greece , which is in turn comprised of 33 unions and second- degree cooperatives.Certain of the older cooperatives have high standards of quality and are established exporters of excellent bottled wines. These include those of Samos, Zitsa in Epitus, Nemea, Pezon and Archanon. Quite well known are also the wine cooperatives of ceratin islands such as those of Santorini, Paros, Samos, Rhodes and Corfu. However, most wine grower cooperatives are in the Peloponnese but the largest are the east Thrace region.