ΗΟΜΕ / THE ESTATE

The estate

The Queen’s Tower Estate was born out of Queen Amalia’s vision of the establishment of a model agricultural facility, where innovative production methods were to be applied aiming to the modernization of the greek agronomy. A vineyard was one the first plantations of the estate. Concerning the formation of 18 hectares of the initial vineyard , experienced viticulturists coming from Megara, were hired. The personality of this model farm embed by its visionary, has been present to date.

The cultivation of 4 hectares, the area that the vineyard covers today, is organic, as well as the one of the rest of the plantations existing inside the property (pistachio trees, olive trees). The vineyard is located in the same place where the original vineyard was (during the Queen’s era) and there has been an effort for applying an organized product and waste management (composting of waste, use of horse waste etc.). The varieties that are planted are wine grape varieties, greek and others originated from Europe, white and red.

For the newly planted grapevines, only greek varieties are used, favoring more exploration of the capacity of the greek vineyard on the whole. The goal is to produce grapefruit of the best quality, from which we can have the finest wines, aromatic and nervous, ideal for drinking them in short time, and others that are bolder, with complexity and force, with an aging potential suitable for the better expression of its character.

Besides the plantations, Queen Amalia had also created a husbandry model in her property including many domestic and farm animals. There are sources indicating that there were cows, chickens, beehives and sheep of the “MERINO” race, as well as a pair of giraffes. Old horses of the royal family were used for the tillage and for other agrarian work so that those animals could serve much longer to the farm, as Amalia mentions in one of her letters to her father. Nowadays, inside the property we are able to encounter horses, chickens and beehives. The rental of the stables offers the opportunity to the horses to be accommodated and get proper physical exercise in an ideal habitat.

In the estate, besides the olive and pistachio trees, we can see mulberries, cypress and pine trees, but also herbs that one can find inside the shop of the property. The Queen’s Tower estate has been considered a model farm not only during the queen’s era but also since the establishment of the first company named “Agricultural Company Queen’s Tower S.A.” in 1931. There is an abstract of the issue of June the 23rd , 1937 from the newspaper “Kathimerini” referring to the estate:

“We continue with our visit to the Greek Agricultural Exhibition. There is a stand quite artistic , a creation of the architect Mr Andreas Ronkan that performs a various interest. It is the stand of the Agricultural Company The Queen’s Tower. A work which was initiated by Queen Amalia and was continued by various owners, and has now become a first class agricultural and husbandry centre, which not only provides the capital with its finest products, but also the rest of Greece and other countries abroad, since it is considered a model farm from a scientific aspect, suitable for the farmers of the suburbs, that can be helped in various ways…

…But the most important product, known to the whole world, is the infamous wines of the company “The Queen’s Tower”, that have conquered not only the greek nation, but have gained a worldwide reputation also. You shall find no hotel, restaurant or bar where the name “Chateau la Reine” or “Tour la Reine” is not known…

… A most grand service of the company for the city is the home delivery of fresh vegetables, grocery and fruit, dairy, eggs and all the products coming from the estate. The vegetables are well known and discussed, because they are splendid, delicious, irrigated by the sources of Mt Parnetha, that supply the old water reservoirs of the property , because they can be consumed fresh without the risk of infection, since the water is pure clean, because you are able to have them at your house freshly cut within an hour. This happens with the fruit also. There is no fruit picked from the ground, but cut only from the trees , neither overripe nor undone. The milk is exceptional also. The cows breathe fresh air of Mt Parnetha, live under the healthiest conditions. The eggs are sold within 3-4 hours since their production at the price of 2.5 drachmas each. Every day,early in the dawn, vans begin from the estate “The Queen’s Tower” for the daily delivery of fruit, vegetables, dairy and eggs to the customers of the company while other vehicles transport the wines the destinations of which are the cities of Athens, Pireus, the countryside of Greece or abroad”.