Lyrarakis Wines Vóila Assyrtiko Crete 2022

Crete has an unbroken history of winemaking going back around 5000 years – it is one of the few regions of the Mediterranean to continue making wine throughout the occupation by the Ottomans and Moors.

Lyrarakis Wines established by Manolis Lyrarakis and his brother Sotiris in 1966 are widely acclaimed to have spearheaded the modern Cretan wine industry. Championing the old Cretan varietals which had been all but wiped out by Phyloxera , which struck here in the 1970’s, like Dafni, sample of which have been found in Minoan wine vessels. The Lyrarakis winery is now in the hands of their offspring, with 15 hectares of vineyards on limestone/gravel in the mountainous region to the south of Heraklion also working closely with several growers to produce a fascinating range of wines.

One of these is their Vóila Assyrtiko - originally from the volcanic island of Santorini - planted around an abandoned 15^th century Venetian settlement in Sitia on the east of the island. Lyrarakis has been working with local growers here since 2011. At altitude of 580m the un-irrigated vines planted on Limestone date from 1990’s. The wine is left in its skins for a 16 hour cold maceration before a slow, 14 day fermentation in stainless steel tanks. Here the grapes ripen slower than on Santorini, giving great concentration of rosemary and preserved lemon notes balanced by a saline and stony minerality, complex and impressive.