Lyrarakis Winery - Reviving Ancient Cretan Varieties

Since 1966, the Lyrarakis family has been rescuing nearly-extinct Cretan grape varieties. They revived Dafni and Plyto (previously blended away) and recently added Melissaki. Their Vidiano and single-vineyard Assyrtiko consistently score 90+ points.

What to do there

4 things to do

1. 1 Taste the Wine Whose Name Appears on a 3,000-Year-Old Bronze Age Inscription Wine · Price: low

   In a Bronze Age cave called Eileithyias near the village of Tsoutsoura, archaeologists found a Minoan copper vessel — Linear-A script, maybe 3,200 years old — inscribed with the words 'Dafnitis Oinos.' Wine made from Dafni. The Lyrarakis family found the last surviving vines of this grape in Crete in the early 1990s and planted them in the Psarades vineyard at 480 metres (35°11'05.6"N, 25°12'29.6"E). You're not drinking a recreated ancient wine — you're drinking the actual continuation of it. Book the €18 'Queens' tasting (5 wines) at booking.lyrarakis.com, and when your sommelier pours the Dafni, say: 'Tell me about the bronze age inscription.' The grape's name comes from 'dáphne' — Greek for bay laurel. That herbal wave of bay leaf, rosemary, and dried citrus is 3,000 years of terroir memory.

   Backup: If the Dafni is sold out, the Melissaki from the Gero-Deti vineyard is equally electric — planted 2010, nobody else on the island grows it, and it scored 93 points with Tim Atkin MW.

   Log Memory
2. 2 Walk Into the Vineyard Where Extinction Was Reversed Adventure · Free

   In the early 1990s, Manolis and Sotiris Lyrarakis went hunting across Crete for grape varieties that had been blended away into anonymity. What they found was effectively two ghosts: Dafni and Plyto, ancient varieties surviving in scattered, forgotten plots. They brought the cuttings to the Psarades vineyard (directly adjacent to the winery at 480 metres above sea level), gravel over limestone soil where the nights cool sharply even in July. The vines you're walking between are 30+ years old now — old enough to have real depth, young enough to still feel like an experiment that worked. Stand at the top of the Psarades slope and look north — on a clear morning you can see all the way to the Cretan Sea. Ask to go at the START of your visit, before tasting, so the wine hits different after you've seen where it grew.

   Backup: If weather prevents the vineyard walk, ask instead to see the vine museum in the cellar — it documents the revival of indigenous varieties with artifacts and timeline boards.

   Log Memory
3. 3 Find the 14th-Century Venetian Winepress Nobody Put on a Map History · Free

   At 'a stone's throw from the winery' you'll find stone-built winepresses from the 14th century — carved into rock, arched roofs, hand-hewn vessels still intact. These are Venetian-era structures from when Cretan wine was exported across the Mediterranean in enormous quantities. The Kursamos settlement (approximately 35°11'07.8"N, 25°12'32.4"E) is listed in historical records as 'desolated' after a plague — the survivors moved to Alagni, leaving their winepresses behind. You'll find four of them together, abandoned in the hillside, perfectly preserved. Nobody visits. No entrance fee. No signs. Ask at the tasting room: 'Can you show us the Venetian winepresses in Kursamos?' The path takes 10–15 minutes on foot from the estate, best in morning light when the stone catches the gold.

   Backup: If staff can't accompany you, the Panagia church in Alagni village centre (~35.1840, 25.2068) dates to the Byzantine era and is considered of 'high historical and religious value.'

   Log Memory
4. 4 Request the Orange Wine That Tim Atkin MW Gave 93 Points Wine · Price: moderate · Optional

   Tim Atkin MW gave it 93 points. Decanter gave it 88. The Wine Society stocks it. And yet here you are, drinking it at the estate where it was made. This is a 12-day skin-contact wine from grapes grown at 500 metres — the Assyrtiko bringing the Santorini-worthy mineral bite, the Vidiano providing the stone fruit weight. The method: hand-harvested, gently skin-fermented at 17°C, five months in concrete tanks. The result: bitter orange, mandarin, crystallised ginger, quinine edge on the finish. When you sit down for your tasting at the Lyrarakis estate, tell your sommelier: 'We'd like to include the orange wine in our tasting if possible.' Budget an extra €5–8 for an additional pour.

   Backup: If unavailable, the Vidiano Ippodromos single-vineyard (91 points) or the Assyrtiko Voila (93 pts Demetri Walters MW) are equally serious alternatives worth requesting by name.

   Log Memory

Insider tips

• The Ippodromos Vidiano (91pts) is made from a single 610m altitude vineyard

• Try the Psarades Dafni (91pts) - smells like Mediterranean summer

• The Voila Assyrtiko (92pts) rivals Santorini examples