T h e H i s t o r y o f W i n e a n d V i n e
Traces of winemaking are discovered in the vineyards of Heraklion dating back to the Minoan era. Winepresses (winepresses and troughs), plus relevant images on clay jars and vases prove the importance of the cultivation of vines and winemaking to the Cretans of that era.
Over the centuries, this relationship is enhanced, intensified and, during the period of the Venetian rule, the famous Cretan wines are exported everywhere in Europe.
Today, the temperate climate of the region continues to create ideal conditions for the cultivation of vines in Heraklion and in the rest of Crete.
HISTORY
o f W i n e a n d V i n e
Grapevine and Wine in the Minoan Era
The Cretan vineyard is one of the oldest in the world and the most ancient in the wider Greek area. Its wide variety and relatively large (for an island vineyard) area (approximately 23.000 hectares) characterize it. Since the Neolithic period, Crete was inhabited by peoples who migrated from the Caucasus region 8-9.000 years ago (early agricultural migration), while the native population of the Bronze Age probably developed the Minoan civilization. Consequently, the cultivated indigenous grape varieties of Crete (Vitisviniferasppsativa) originated either from the wild grapevine populations (Vitisviniferasppsylvestris), as Crete was an early secondary center for the creation of grapevine varieties, or from the Caucasian grapevine (Vitisviniferasppcaucasica).
The first remains in Crete, such as grape seeds, stems, and grape skins, preserved in the stratigraphy of the Aegean settlements of the Bronze Age, were found at Myrtos, Ierapetra, at the site of Fournou Korifi, and date to 2600-2000 BC.
In eastern Crete, mainly clay and stone but alsostone-built wine presses of the Minoan period have been found at several sites. The discovery of wine presses at Vathipetro of Archanes,Zakros, and other sites, as well as that of the stone wine press at Petra, Sitia, indicate that the cultivation of vines and wine-making were important priorities for the Minoans.
Geometric, Archaic, Classical Period
After the collapse of the eastern Mediterranean civilizations and the subsequent decline of the Minoan civilization, apart from Crete, other commercial centers gradually grew in Greece. Many regions of Greece, especially Macedonia, Thrace and the island of Thasos, used this decline to their advantage and developed wine production and export. In the Museum of Thasos, inscriptions testifying to the trade and distribution of wine and referring to its quality control are exhibited. In the same museum, there is a sekoma (a standard weight) with two inscriptions: ΟΙΝΗΡΑ and ΗΜΙΑΜΦΟΡΙΝ (half-amphora). Another inscription in the same museum refers to the prohibition of wine adulteration, which, in order to protect the consumer, seems to have imposed a fine on anyone who did so: for everyone who bought wine (unmixed, not diluted wine) in jars, the purchase would have been valid only if the jars had been marked.
As part of Greece, Doric Crete had its peculiarities, but there were influences from the rest of Greece. The spread of city-states’ maritime trade throughout the Mediterranean due to colonization resulted in the growth of vine cultivation (viticultivation) throughout the Mediterranean, such as in southern Italy, Etruria and Marseilles, since the demand for wine was high and wine exports had to meet the requirements.
In addition, the information provided by the sources on wine consumption in common meals (syssitia) is significant. In a relevant passage from the Laws, Plato informs us that wine drinking was forbidden in Crete and Sparta. Additionally, in Plato’s Minos, a work of doubted authenticity, there is evidence that the excessive consumption of wine leading to drunkenness was prohibited during the banquets in Crete by a law (“they are not to drink with each other to intoxication”) – it is also noticed that in this issue the Spartans followed the example of the Cretans (“Spartans learnt it from Cretans”).
Greco-Roman Period
Crete was the cradle of the Mediterranean triptych: vine, olive, and wheat. Due to the advantageous micro-terrain features and the expertise offered by the long wine-making tradition on the island, the vineyard produced excellent grapes and very high-quality wine.
In Lyttos or Gortyna, the inhabitants’ everyday meals, religious ceremonies, and festivals were accompanied by wine since the 5th century BC. Citizen vine growers or wine producers gave must (gleukos), among other products, as a tax to the city-state, whereas the city paid the wages of free citizens and slaves with the same product. Therefore, in Ancient Crete, must could replace the currency.
The internal peace and the combat against piracy after the 1st century BC, when the Romans conquered Crete, provided the conditions for the golden age of Cretan wine production. The Sweet Cretan wine or Passum Creticum, cited by the Latin writers, travelled easily, without losses caused by piracy. Naturally sweet raisin wine production was facilitated by open-air wine presses where the drying process was easy. Hundreds of wine presses, vats, and presses, both rock-cut and stone-built, have been preserved throughout the island, even at altitudes above 800 meters on Psiloritis. At Agios Thomas in Sokara, Kalo, Paliani, Prinias in Malevizi, Smari, Kalyvos, and Zoniana of Mylopotamos, rock-cut and stone-built wine-making structures constitute strong evidence of vine cultivation and wine-making. Despite the lack of systematic archaeological excavation on the wine-making facilities, their proximity to Greco-Roman settlements might even indicate their period of function.
The archaeological research has revealed 17 deposits of amphorae production workshops in 13 coastal areas of the island, while the four characteristic types of amphorae of Cretan potters are found in many regions of the Mediterranean.
Byzantine - Venetian Periods
The Byzantines continued to cultivate vineyards. They started using a new tool, the lisgarion (shovel), and gave the wine a new name, ‘krasi’. Many magarica (byzantine commercial amphorae) have been found in shipwrecks, like the one near the Dias islet, and some of them are exhibited in the Museum of Maritime Antiquities in theFortressof theSea at Heraklion.
According to the researcher Phaedon Koukoules, the Byzantine people used many types of wine and made many blends. They had white, straw, red and black, heavy and light, astringent or strong and sweet wines, and based on their age, aged ones, or their aroma, fragrant or sweet, smelling wine. They also seem to have been familiar with resinitic acid. Hementions that, given their place of origin, the Thasian sweet-smelling wine, the Chian wine, the Ikarian or Pramnianwine, the Coan wine, the Rhodian wine, the Samian wine, the Naxian wine, the Therian wine and the Cretan sweet wine were well-known.
Later, after the purchase of Crete by Venice,great vineyards were formed in its winefarms, and the famous wine of the Middle Ages, Malvasia, was produced. In the first decades of the 14th century, Cretan wine, according to the traveler Simon Symeonis’ reference, was renowned and traveled worldwide. By the mid-15th century, the Venetian Senate officially declared that wine was the wealth and breath of the island’s inhabitants. It was primarily the Cretan Malvasia that became famous and, along with other Cretan wines, was exported to the markets of Europe and the East: to Germany, France, England, Portugal, Constantinople, Alexandria, as well as the Black Sea. In 1415, Cristoforo Buondelmontinotes that ships arriving from all parts of the world in the port of Candia (now Heraklion) loaded at least twenty thousand barrels of wine of excellent quality every year. Moreover, the traveler Pierre Bellon reports that in 1573 wine exports from Crete amounted to 10,000-12,000 tons.
Ottoman times
On the island of wine, Crete, trade peaked in the 16th century. After 1570, the Venetians began to forcibly uproot vines to plant cereal in the fields under the upcoming Ottoman threat. The outbreak of economic recession in Europe and the start of sweet wine production in the western Mediterranean reduced the demand for luxury goods from the eastern Mediterranean, such as the sweet wine of Crete. Thus, the wine market acquired a local and regional character.
After the fall of Chandax to the Ottomans (1669), wine was produced mainly for local use, raisins were exported mainly to France, and Crete became an island of oil. Gradually, the genetic wealth of vine varieties declined. In 1773, Pockocke listed 72 grape species, and in 1823, Sieber recorded 37 grape varieties. The wine was consumed locally, and its quality met local needs. Therefore, the qualities required by the export needs of the product were lacking.
The Notarial documents of the 17th century show that Crete was no longer a trade station between East and West, but it was part of a dense network of local commerce, whereas Constantinople and the Egyptian ports were receiving a large part of Cretan exports. Gradually, oil replaced wine in these markets, as well as in the islands of the Archipelagos, while olives replaced vines in the Cretan countryside, in a game of interchange that continues to this day. Piracy also played an essential role in the stagnation of maritime trade since war galleys did not protect trade missions as they did during the Venetian period.
Due to the war, the vineyards faced a period of abandonment in 1821-1830, with wine imports reaching 35,000 ounces in 1833. In the 1830s-1840s, 16.000 hectares of vines were replanted, when there was an increase in wine production and the imports stopped.
Last two centuries
Crete has a unique geomorphological feature: the island’s direction and the mountain ridge coincide with the sun’s path. Thus, the sun gently caresses the vineyards for a long time, while the sea refreshes the vineyards with its breeze and summer meltemia (etesian winds), turning them into unique wine fields.
After the withdrawal of the Ottomansat the end of the 19th century, there was a particular growth of viniculture, mainly in the region of Heraklion (Malevizi) and Chania (Askifou, Kissamos).
During the years of the Cretan State, agricultural stations were founded in Chania, Rethymnon, Heraklion, and Lassithi. According to the researchers, at the beginning of the 20th century, the best wines were the fine, tasty, with a peculiar natural aroma and golden yellow color when aged, ‘Malvasia wine’ from the province of Malevizi, and ‘black wine’ from Archanes. The price of Malevizian wine was much higher than that of Archanian wine.
Gradually, viniculture expanded, and in the middle of the 20th century, raisin vines displaced grape vines since the process of raisin production and the selling prices favored this change. The undulating hills south of Heraklion offered wealth to the growers, and they ‘conquered’ the city of Heraklion.
The decline of the raisin market led to another change towards grapevines. It is the time when new producers started a wine revolution. Gifted local varieties that had been in danger of extinction were rescued and, alongside foreign varieties, enriched the Cretan wine-growing area. The produced grapes offered exceptional aromas, colors, and flavors. The quality shift was based on knowledge and technology, but above all, on the advantages of the blessed land, which exploited local and foreign varieties, continuing the vision of the people of the land where the first European civilization began.