The Aegean Islands – the most famous of which are Crete, Dodecanese/rhodes">Rhodes, Samos and Cyclades/santorini">Santorini – lie in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey. The islands have a Long and influential winemaking history spanning thousands of years, but in the modern day are most famous for Santorini's Dry, minerally, white wines made from Assyrtico-based white wines made from Assyrtico.
The Aegean Sea covers roughly 83,000 square miles (215,000 sq km) between the Southern coast of Greek Macedonia and Crete in the south. Several groups of islands make up the Aegean archipelago, including the Sporades in the North, the Dodecanese just off the coast of Turkey and the Cyclades near the Attica coast.
Vines are grown on nearly every inhabited island in the Aegean Sea.
The Minoan civilization on Crete is thought to have been the first in Europe, and wine production dates back to at least 5000B. C. , as evidenced by ancient wine Presses that have been discovered across the island.
The 5th Century BC poet Homer described the thriving wine trade in the Aegean in both the Iliad and the Odyssey, and discoveries across the Mediterranean basin of ancient amphorae bearing Aegean insignia suggest that wine was one of the chief economies here in classical Greece.
The famed Malvasia-based Sweet wines were produced on many of the Aegean Islands during the period of Venetian rule in the Middle Ages, particularly on Crete, Rhodes and Paros. These wines were exported across Europe between the 14th and 17th Centuries, slating the thirst of well-to-do Parisians, Londoners and Fiorentini. Unfortunately, the period of Ottoman rule that followed saw a major decline in this trade, as well as in wine production across the Aegean Islands.
Roussane is a white grape variety, planted on an area of more than 700 ha. Originally from Montélimar, it is also found in Savoie, Languedoc and Roussillon, and grows very well in calcareous, poor, stony soil. It prefers to be pruned short. Roussane is also called fromenteau, barbin or bergeron. The young leaves are bubbled with fine down. When adult, they become thicker. It flowers in June and matures in mid-September. The grapes are cylindrical in shape, the berries are small and turn red when ripe, and the wine produced from pure Roussane is of extraordinary quality. It has a delicate aroma reminiscent of coffee, honeysuckle, iris and peony. The taste of this wine improves with age. It is part of the blend of the appellations Vin-de-Savoie, Côtes-du-Vallée du Rhône or Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
Whenever I visit Domaine Richaud, just outside the village of Cairanne, the winemaking team remind me of friends I made at free parties in the 1990s in fields and disused warehouses. I’m not talking dreadlocks and dogs on strings, but there’s always an anarchic frisson in the air. You get the impression they know how to enjoy themselves. Perhaps it’s to be expected, given the radical furrow Marcel Richaud has ploughed. He’s approaching 70 now, but still thrums with pent-up energy, his ice-blue e ...
Police ordered the evacuation of more local residents in the Landiras area yesterday (Monday 18 July), with Liber Pater’s vineyard in Graves also evacuated as firefighters continued to try to contain a large forest fire that has been burning for the past week. A ‘fog’ of fire smoke behind Liber Pater vines on Tuesday morning (19 July), said owner Loïc Pasquet, who was briefly able to return to the site. Smoke hasn’t been a problem so far, he said. Credit: Loïc Pasquet. ‘The pol ...
Sequence from the video « At the heart of the Mâcon terroir » which offer a stroll at the heart of the Mâcon terroir. It offers a focus on Mâcon-Pierreclos, one of the 27 geographical denominations of the Mâcon appellation. Travel through the terroirs of the Mâcon appellation by watching the full video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF20y1aBZh8 Both are availablein French and English. Our social media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BourgogneWines Twitter: https://twitter.com/BourgogneW ...
