Vathypetro Archaeological Site - Ancient Wine Press

A Minoan manor house featuring the oldest known wine press in the world (circa 1580 BC). The remarkably preserved press, along with oil presses and weaving equipment, reveals the sophisticated agricultural economy of Bronze Age Crete.

What to do there

4 things to do

1. 1 Find the Treading Floor That Started Everything History · Free

   Stand at the oldest known wine press still in situ on European soil — a three-part Minoan pressing system built in 1580 BCE and never moved.

   This is the moment the Phoenician wine story begins — not in Byblos, not in Tyre, but HERE, 400 years before Phoenicia was even a civilization. The wine press at Vathypetro archaeological site (4km south of Archanes village, GPS: 35.2047, 25.1598) was built in 1580 BCE by a Minoan estate manager. It is three components still sitting in the exact spots where Minoan feet pressed grapes: a large storage jar for whole clusters, a shallow clay treading basin where a person stood barefoot and crushed the grapes, and a collection vat below that caught the must. The grape remains found here were Vitis vinifera sylvestris — the same species that fills your wine glass today. Walk slowly through the south sector of the complex and look for the large clay basin set into the stone — that shallow depression with drainage channels cut into bedrock is the treading floor. Touch the stone. This is 3,600 years old and nobody put a plexiglass barrier between you and it.

   Backup: If the site is unexpectedly closed (it occasionally is — Greek archaeological sites have irregular hours, especially outside summer), the exterior of the site is viewable from the road, and the 4km drive from Archanes along the hillside with views toward Mount Juktas is itself worth doing. Return the next morning at opening.

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2. 2 Decode the Shrine Aligned to Grape Harvest Season History · Free

   The tripartite shrine at Vathypetro was built so its northern niche aligned exactly to the spring and autumn equinoxes — a celestial wine calendar carved in stone in 1580 BCE.

   In 2005, a team of archaeoastronomers published 'Orientations of the Bronze Age Villa Complex at Vathypetro in Crete' and confirmed what Marinatos had suspected when he excavated in 1949: the shrine's northern niche (in the west wing of the complex) is oriented to face the exact rising point of the sun at the spring and autumn equinoxes. The spring equinox = vine pruning time. The autumn equinox = grape harvest. The Minoans built their winery facing a celestial clock. Stand in the west wing ruins and orient yourself north — look for the three-niche structure, then look beyond it toward Mount Juktas. That 811m sacred peak, which the Minoans believed was the buried head of Zeus, creates an unmistakable profile of a man's face on the horizon. Every architectural choice here was intentional.

   Backup: If the west wing area is roped off or poorly visible, the view toward Mount Juktas from anywhere on the Vathypetro hillside is available and free. The mountain's profile is clear on most days — the 'face of Zeus' silhouette is visible from the road.

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3. 3 Taste the Grape That Only Crete Saved from Extinction Wine · Price: low

   At Lyrarakis winery, 15 minutes from Vathypetro, drink Dafni — a white grape that existed in Minoan Crete, disappeared from almost the entire world, and was rescued from extinction by one family in 1966.

   The Lyrarakis family didn't just build a winery — they went hunting in abandoned hillside vineyards across Crete in the 1960s and found grapevines that nobody had named in centuries. They pulled cuttings, replanted, and identified three varieties that had almost vanished from the planet: Dafni (aromas of bay laurel), Plyto (a crisp white unique to Crete), and Melissaki ('little bee' — honey-scented, nearly mythological). The Dafni you'll taste at Lyrarakis Winery (Alagni village, +30 698 105 0681) is the closest living thing to what was flowing off that 3,600-year-old treading floor. Tours run April through October, 11:30–18:30, and the guided tour is FREE. Ask specifically for the Dafni white and the Kotsifali-Mandilaria PDO Archanes red. When the Dafni arrives, smell for bay leaf — sharp, herbal, unlike anything you'll smell from any other white wine on earth.

   Backup: If Lyrarakis is closed (they close November–March), Boutari Winery at Scalani (also near Archanes) offers visits. Alternatively, any taverna in Archanes village will have local Kotsifali-Mandilaria by the glass — ask for 'local Archanes wine' (not bottled imports).

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4. 4 Hold the Evidence of the Minoan Wine Empire in Archanes Museum History · Price: low · Optional

   The Archaeological Museum of Archanes holds finds from the greatest Minoan sites in this valley — including the controversial evidence of human sacrifice, the Fourni necropolis treasures, and the objects that prove Crete was running a Mediterranean wine trade 3,500 years ago.

   This small museum in Archanes village center is the repository for what was dug up within walking distance of Vathypetro. Glass Case 7 holds the replica knife and a cast of the wrist seal from Anemospilia — the Minoan temple 1km from here where in 1979 archaeologist Yannis Sakellarakis found a skeleton tied to an altar, a ritual blade (actually a bronze spear-point, 30cm long) and three other bodies suggesting a human sacrifice in progress when the 1700 BCE earthquake hit and buried them all. This is the shadow side of the civilization that built Vathypetro's wine press. The Archaeological Museum of Archanes (in a neoclassical building that was originally the village's first primary school, GPS: 35.2420, 25.1620) charges €2 entry. Don't skip the Linear A tablets reproduction — these clay tablets from ~1450 BCE include wine inventory records from the palace at Knossos, proving Minoan wine was being exported and tracked with administrative precision.

   Backup: If the museum is closed on your visit day (occasional maintenance closures), walk Archanes village itself — the neoclassical architecture, the kafeneion on the main square, and the panoramic views toward Juktas are all free and worth an hour.

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Insider tips

• The wine press is remarkably intact - imagine pressing grapes 3,500 years ago

• Combine with the nearby Archanes village for lunch

• The site is less crowded than Knossos but equally significant