The Winery Ousyra (Ουσύρα) of Aegean Sea

Discovering the wine region of Aegean Sea

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.