Apostolos R. Spyropoulos, who in a lengthy post describes how, according to him, the business was driven to bankruptcy which was sealed by two auctions, has launched a severe accusation against his family for the management of the wineries they maintain in Mantinea.“I was alone and against me all of you!” he says, describing an environment of mismanagement of the company by his relatives.

Apostolos R. Spyropoulos, now an executive of New Democracy and formerly PASOK’s policy coordinator, is the son of Robertos Spyropoulos, a historical PASOK executive. In his post, titled “The end of a journey, the hour of truth”, he makes heavy allegations against his father, mother and sister, blaming them solely for the collapse of the business.

Referring to the first winery that has already gone to auction, he writes: “The first of two auctions has taken place and the first winery is gone for good. In a few days, the same “hammer” will seal the fate of the second one.”
The first of the two auctions has just taken place.

Dismissing the version of bad timing, he notes that “what we are experiencing is not ‘bad timing’ or market misfortune. It is the law-abiding result of years of arrogance, morbid familialism and an administration that has confused a historical journey with a personal feud.”

His father (who has passed away in June 2019), whom he describes as “utterly self-centred”, describing an “I” who – as he writes – repeated “I know best”, “I made it myself”, is directly targeted.

On the management of the company, he says that “the company was never managed – it was idealised”, and describes the succession process as a “travesty”, describing that “the mother only handed over the wheel when she was forced to retire, anointing a daughter who was unemployed at the time as successor”.

In highly charged writing, he emphasizes “I was alone and against me all of you!” and adds, “on the one hand, the creators of chaos along with the eager ‘little brother’, always in the role of a sad applauder, saying ‘yes’ to whatever absurdity the ‘big guy’ dictated, legitimizing the destruction.”

In a particularly sharp tone, he describes images of the family’s public presence just before the financial collapse: “While the ship was sinking from debts, you were ‘playing violins on deck'”, while he speaks of appearances “from Neo Heraklion to the Caravel” and of seeking a role at political rallies, “while they were letting the business cool down”.

He also makes specific reference to a trip to Paris a week before the auction, writing that “you were in Paris to enjoy Verdi’s ‘Ballo in maschera’ (Un ballo in maschera)”, adding that “as modern-day Neroneans you ‘sang’ in the theatres of France while the winery burned in the flames of your debts”.

Elsewhere in the post he refers to “provocative, far from arbitrary accommodation in the ‘tower’ inside the winery” and accuses his family members that “you all lived for years exclusively from the company, draining it to the last euro”.

He claims that for 25 years he received no financial benefit from the business, writing: “For more than 25 years, neither I nor any other member of my immediate family received a single €1 from the business! Since May 2020, when I permanently resigned, I have not charged the business even a single bottle of wine!”
Neither any of my family nor any of my friends, nor any of my family, nor any of my friends, nor any of my family members, have ever charged the business a single bottle of wine!

He also makes special reference to his own political move from PASOK to New Democracy, claiming that it was – as he describes it – another area of conflict within the family. Referring to the beginning of 2023, when, as he notes, “I decided to change my political course”, he complains that there was an attempt to make the family appear publicly against him: “You went so far as to try to collect signatures for a letter that would supposedly show the family opposing my action!” At the same point, he speaks of “immorality” and “malice” that “went beyond all limits”, claiming that this effort touched “even my closest relatives and people who never had anything to do with the business”.

In closing, Apostolos R. Spyropoulos assigns “sole” responsibility for “the moral decline, dissolution and disgrace”, concluding, “The masks have finally fallen. The curtain of your own “Traviata” has closed with a bang and your “Dance of the Masquerade” no longer has an audience.”

The case involves two wineries in Madinia, which are being driven to loss through auction, with the family and business conflict now taking on public proportions.

The entire post by Apostolos R. Spyropoulos:

“THE END OF A JOURNEY, THE TIME OF TRUTH

We grew up with this winery together. I was a young child in 1988, when the first foundation was laid, and I would play among the concrete and mud, watching the walls rise day by day.

I remember like now the sparkle and joy in my father’s eyes as he watched his creation take shape. For me, this place was never just a “duvet” or a business; it was my first images, my roots, a place identified with my own life.

Today, then, that journey comes to a close in the most poignant way. The first of two auctions has taken place and the first winery is gone for good. In a few days, the same “hammer” will seal the fate of the second one.

What we are experiencing is not a “bad circumstance” or a misfortune of the market. It is the lawful result of years of arrogance, morbid familialism and an administration that has confused a historical journey with a personal feud.

The company was never run – it was appropriated. It was turned into a closed “kingdom” where succession resembled a charade: the mother only handed over the wheel when she was forced to retire, anointing a daughter who was unemployed at the time as successor. A choice that from the beginning I found myself completely opposed to, as it ignored any trace of meritocracy and logic.

All this happened under the high supervision of a father who was totally self-centered, trapped in his own sick ego. An “I” that repeated itself monotonously: “I know best”, “I made it myself”. It was this “I” that eventually suffocated you, refusing to listen to any rational voice, imposing incompetence as a family destiny.

While the ship was sinking in debt, you were “playing violins on deck”. Just a month before the disaster, father and daughter, instead of reflecting on their responsibilities, appeared gleeful and photographed from Neos Heraklion to the Caravel, seeking roles at political rallies and pretending to be the country’s saviours while letting the business cool.

At the same time, the CEO, in a feat of audacity, was delivering “rural development” lessons to a panel of former prime ministers – the man on whose watch the banks were closed down. The ultimate irony: an administration that left the banks unpaid, posing as the expert next to the man who sealed them.

The height of vanity? Just a week before the auction, you were in Paris to enjoy Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera – expenses that were probably dubbed “product promotion”. Apparently, in the absence of ‘Traviata’ (The Misbegotten), which would have been your ideal self-portrait, you preferred, as modern-day Neroes, to ‘sing’ in the theatres of France while the winery burned in the flames of your debts. A theatre of decadence, where you hid your failure behind the great life of foreign tricks, while the real guarantors were losing sleep and their fortunes.

The self-centered father, the mother in the role of a tower mistress, and the daughter, enjoyed for years a challenging, beyond arbitrary residence in the “tower” within the winery. You lived like parasites at the expense of the shareholders, inside an illegal building, proving that you were not formal in the basics, or even in the legality of your own housing.

You all lived off the company exclusively for years, draining it of every last dollar to maintain a paper illusion. While the business was collapsing, the CEO was living her own “dream”, travelling to every corner of the world, always under the convenient pretext of “promoting the products”. Trips that were nothing more than luxurious self-promotion cycles, while the staff watched their future disappear. You reached the ultimate point of decadence to circulate labels with the daughter and granddaughter’s name on them, putting your narcissism above the survival of the business.

I was alone and facing all of you! On the one hand the creators of chaos along with the willing “little brother”, always in the role of a sad applauder, saying “yes” to whatever the “big guy” dictated, legitimizing the destruction.

When I laid out my arguments, my proposals and my vertical oppositions to the disastrous course you have chosen, you, blinded by malice, obsession and an inflated ego, demonized me. You smeared me and systematically spread filthy lies to family and friends for the sole purpose of morally destroying me.

Even more despicable was what you attempted in early 2023, when I decided to change my political course. You went so far as to try to gather signatures for a letter that would supposedly show the family opposed to my action! Your immorality and malice went beyond all bounds, touching even my closest relatives and people who were never involved in the business.
You wanted at all costs to show me isolated and cut off from everyone. So unscrupulous, so cynical, so full of complexities towards me. Yet, on this downward slide no one followed you…

When I resigned in May 2020, I left you alone against your mirror. But even then, in your mirror you were still looking at me, because my truth was the constant nightmare that unmasked you.

I have a clear conscience towards all. For more than 25 years, neither I nor any other member of my immediate family received a single 1€ from the company! Since May 2020 when I permanently resigned, I have not charged the business with a single bottle of wine!

In complete absurdity with my attitude, do you guys sleep soundly? How do you look into the eyes of the employees and creditors you leave behind? Allow me to awaken you – or rather, shake you – from the egocentric slumber in which you have been living for years: the party is finally and soon over.

The responsibility for moral decay, disintegration and disgrace rests solely on you and you alone!

You have sown the winds and now you will reap the storms of disdain. The wineries are gone, the obligations remain, but the shame of your parasitic path will follow you forever.

The masks have finally come off. The curtain on your own “Traviata” has closed with a bang, and your “Dance of the Masquerade” has no more spectators. Only the icy silence of your failure.

Athens , 18/02/2026

With appreciation

Apostolos R. Spyropoulos”

The winery and the auctions

According to newmoney.gr, the auction was against the company “Agroindustrial Winery of Arcadia S.A.” (“Arkas S.A.”), and concerned the right of full ownership of two parcels of land with an area of 3,325.75 m² and 5,863.02 m², located in the location “Gortsouli” Artemisiou of the Municipality of Mantineia Arcadia.

The two parcels of land, which were acquired by the company in 1988, constitute a single property on which there is a winery factory with a total surface area of 1498.78 sq.m., a shed with a surface area of 207.85 sq.m. and a basement with a surface area of 807.68 sq.m.

The area is located within the declared archaeological site of Ancient Mantinea, which means, as emphasized, that “any building work, no matter how small, is prohibited without the approval of the local antiquities council.”

The first bid price was set at €1,397,000 and the award was made with an extra €1 at €1,397,001.

It is recalled that for March 4, -as newmoney has revealed-, an auction is scheduled for the second winery of the company. This is a land with a total surface area of 58,053.55 square meters after the building (Winery) and “after all in general the components, annexes and attendant”, which is located in the Municipal Unit of Nemea.