Hello All,
I am traveling to Greece in mid/late August, and will be spending four days on the island of Crete. We are targeting staying in the capital city of Heraklion, with a day planned to venture out to wine country about an hour away.
Does anyone have suggestions on tasting rooms to visit? I am not terribly familiar with Cretan wines (other than they lean more towards whites), so any input there would be helpful as well.
Thanks in advance for any reco’s, cheers…
We only visited one so can’t really compare, but we had a good time at Lyrarakis winery. They had a good variety of reds and whites with many being rarer local varieties. Just a tip if you are driving inCrete is use caution with google maps - at one point I was driving on dirt roads between vineyards trying to get there…
We went to Douloufakis a few years ago, which was really good. Excellent indigenous grape varieties (Vidiano) and also some vintages for sale with a couple of years of bottle age.
Can be found at douloufakis.wine
I haven’t visited, Brian, but have learned a tremendous amount about Greek wines from the writing of Yiannis Karakasis MW.
His website has a wealth of information and I have found him to be extremely fair-minded in his coverage.
Here’s a link to a report from a recent Cretan tasting: Where does Cretan wine stand today? | Yiannis Karakasis MW.
His site has a lot of info, an e-book, and a very good search function. Happy digging
Another tip from when we visited a number of years ago: On a 2 lane highway with a shoulder you are expected to move to the shoulder when an oncoming car decides to pass in the middle!
Clueless here, but do recall there being a UC Davis trained winemaker there that a lot of winemakers here know.
Seconding the suggestion to visit Lyrarakis. We had a great time there
Perfect, thanks for the suggestions all…
If Economou still around, would visit them (Yiannis) and he is on that side of the island. His Sitia made from the Liatiko grape is my favorite Crete red, and makes some whites. Kind of culty (hard to find in Crete as he exported most abroad, including coverage at some boutiquey NYC stores). Tasting is done in his great-great-great-great-great grandfathers house (low ceilings!) under the share of a few-hundred year old fruit treat (originally a nut tree that grafted into a grape tree?). I haven’t had a bottle in a few years and I know he had issues getting higher prices for his wines, so I don’t know if he is still producing. Importer would have the information: Domaine Economou – DNS Wines
I’m reluctant to make a negative comment on someone’s travel plans, but Heraklion is not a place I’d like to stay for longer than a day at most. The town has a couple of sites to look at but is otherwise a commercial shipping port, passenger ferry port, and airport. You may want to arrange some more day trips. I prefer the areas around Chania and Agios Nikolaos to Heraklion. As always, YMMV.
You may also find this useful:
Manousakis in Western Crete (Chania) is also suggested, as well as Doulafakis, Strataridakis Brothers (south of Heraklion)and Gavalas. I assume you are flying into Athens. If you have a free evening, there are a couple of wine bars you may want to try: Warehouse and Oinoscent both in city centre) come to mind. Cheers
Thanks for the heads up. We have considered staying in Agios Nikolaos for a couple days as well. May split 2 days there and 2 in Heraklion.
Strong second for Manousakis Winery, near Chania. My friend Lucie Morton consulted on the original plantings and Laurence Feraud of Pegau has advised Ted Manousakis as well. The original plantings of Syrah, Grenache and Roussanne have to be well over 20 years of age now, and have been joined by indigenous grapes.
As an aside, your schedule seems to be set with Heraklion and maybe Agios Nikolaus. But I have to mention that one of the most memorable places I have ever stayed is Milia, an agrotourism in the mountains inland from Chania. The quality of the food was mind-boggling. Google Maps currently describes it as a quaint 1400s hotel. Can’t speak to the antiquity, but I didn’t find it either quaint or a hotel… IIRC all small individual houses, not gussied up but with stuff like indoor plumbing.
I haven’t been to Crete for about 10 years, but another indelible place nearby is Diktina, an unrestored sanctuary at the tip of a peninsula northwest of Chania. Just one of those places, as far and as different from Machu Picchu as you can get, but similarly unreal, and infinitely less crowded.
Dan Kravitz