Greece - The Glory Of Cretan Wine

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Greek sweet wines from Candia became the ultimate luxury in the 16th century. Among aristocrats and the affluent in Moscow, London, Constantinople (renamed Istanbul in 1453), Seville, Krakow, Hamburg, Marseilles, Naples and Venice, Cretan Malvasia was recommended for its soothing, as well as invigorating, properties.

Travellers to Crete produced an abundance of detailed descriptions about how wine was made-by boiling the must, partly sun-drying the grapes or blending old and new wine. There is also information about wine consumption on the island-Cretan women, it was noted, drank heavily. In 1600, the French traveller Henri de Villamont reported that Cretan wines fell into two categories: the slightly acidic wines drunk by the locals, and sweet wines (vini dolci) made for export to Italy, France, Germany, the Ottoman Empire, Poland, Russia and England.

Considerable quantities of Aegean wine arrived in England between 1511 and 1550-Bristol and Southampton were in regular commercial contact with Crete, Chios and Cyprus. In 1534, two ships-the Matthew Gonson and the Holy Cross -returned to Southampton after a yearlong voyage to Chios and Crete. The casks on board, full of olive oil and wine, had been damaged during the passage and it became clear that the wine could not be unloaded unless it was transferred to new casks. During the transfer, the red Malmsey was discovered to be far better than any wine that had yet reached England. As the Duke of Candia, Zuanne Sagredo, observed 70 years later, the English quickly developed a special preference for Cretan red wines.

Italian cities controlled the trade of Mediterranean goods to England again -including wine-from 1550 until the 1571 naval Battle of Lepanto. Ottoman forces had occupied Malmsey´s home port of Monemvassia (1540), as well as Hios (1566) and Cyprus (1570), but ships from Ragusa, Venice, Livorno and Genoa continued to trade with Cephalonia, Zakynthos (Zante to the Venetians) and the Cretan port towns of Rethymno and Hania.

Torquato Tasso´s epic poem La Gerusalemme liberata, composed shortly after the Turkish defeat at Lepanto, refers to the Crusades but reflects the 16th-century belief that Christians in a liberated Jerusalem had drunk Cretan wine mixed with water from the River Jordan.

If you decide to visit Crete stay in fabulous hotels such as Elounda Bay Palace Crete, Aldemar Knossos Royal Village and Casa Delfino.