Crete / Κρήτη

At 8,335 km², Greece's largest island (Greek: Kriti) is 260 kilometres long and 60 kilometres wide and lies at the southern end of the Aegean Sea. From west to east, Crete is crossed by a mountain range up to 3000 metres high. There are fertile valleys between the mountains. It was the centre of Cretan-Mycenaean culture in ancient times, came into Roman possession in 67 BC and was subsequently under Eastern Roman, Arab, Venetian and Ottoman rule. It was not until 1913 that the island became part of Greece.

Ancient wine-growing culture

It is believed that the first cultivated vineyards in the Mediterranean were on Crete, but it is certainly one of the oldest wine-growing cultures. A wine press dating back to 2000 BC was discovered during excavations in Vathipetro near the municipality of Archanes. In the Middle Ages, the island was called Candia, and the sweet wines made from Malvasia and Muscatel were shipped all over Europe via the harbour town of Monemvasia(Peloponnese).

Vineyards and grape varieties

Today, the vineyards cover around 50,000 hectares, mainly in the north of the island, where the mountains provide protection from the hot desert winds of North Africa. Table grapes and sultanas are produced to a large extent, but 20% of Greek wine comes from here. Almost exclusively autochthonous grape varieties are cultivated, the most important being Kotsifali, Liatiko, Mandilaria, Romeiko, Thrapsathiri and Vilana. The island was spared phylloxera until the mid-1970s, which is why most of the vines were ungrafted. Then the pest struck here too, necessitating a switch to vines with resistant rootstocks.

Wine-growing areas

For a long time, Crete, with extremely high yields of over 400 hectolitres per hectare, was regarded as a pure producer of mass-produced wines by large winegrowers' cooperatives. From the 1990s onwards, there was a gradual rethink. There are four appellations classified as POP (previously OPAP and OPE): Archanes (red wine), Dafnes (red wine), Peza (red wine and white wine) and Sitia (red wine and white wine). Well-known producers are Alexakis, Boutari, Creta Olympias Winery, Digenakis, Douloufakis, Ekonomou, Lyrarakis, Minos Cretan Wines and Milliarakis.

Map of Greece: By Pitichinaccio - own work, CC BY 3.0, Link
edited by Norbert F. J. Tischelmayer 2/2018