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he wine making in Crete goes back to the dawn of civilisation in the island.
There are numerous findings all over Crete that demonstrate the role that wine making played during the Minoan ages. Wine making was an occasion for feasting in ancient Crete with offerings to the Gods. In the photograph you can see the archaeological site of the minoan villa at Vathipetro in Archanes. There the archaelogists unearthed the ruins of a wine making installation and storage rooms full of clay jars for storing the wine.

Wine making continued throughtout the years and flourished especially during the roman ages.During that time, there were at least fifteen pottery workshops in the island, making clay jars for transporting the wine. Remnants of these jars have been unearthed in various towns on the Mediterranean shores, proof of the export activities of the Cretans.
Later on when the Venetians occupied Crete, wine was the main export product of the island . The local authorities took measures to limit vine cultivation., since everybody was planting grapes and there was the beginning of a shortage of other foodstuffs in the island.
During the 15th century, a famous wine exported throughout Europe was "Malvasia", made from the "liatiko" variety of grapes.


In the picture to the right you can see a reconstruction of an old grape press (called "galeagra") which was in use from the 13th to the 15th century.The stone part of the galeagra was found in the Alagni area , a village approximately 30 Km south of Iraklion. The wooden screw of the galeagra was saved until today, used as a door handle.(!!)

The Cretan Wine...