5,000 Years of Fine Cretan Wines: Glimpses of the History of Wine on a Beautiful Island

Description

Like the Roman god Janus, this book looks to both the past and the future in discussing the long history of quality wine on this beautiful island. After a brief historical introduction, the story travels back 5,000 years to a wind-swept hilltop in eastern Crete where archaeologists have discovered the earliest evidence of a fermented beverage on the island. There follows a series of glimpses into the many ensuing centuries including wine from a Minoan shipwreck off the northern coast of the island, the role often played by the god known as Dionysos/Bacchus, and the famous Malvasia wine that many believe was made in Crete and traded widely during the four centuries that Venice occupied the island. Recently, this history has come alive again with the recognition, replanting, and vinification of legacy grape varietals combined with a renewed appreciation by modern Cretan winemakers for the practices used by their forebears. All is good on this beautiful island.

Contents: List of Figures, Preface, Acknowledgments, List of Abbreviations, 1. Cretan Wine: A Brief Historical Overview of the Greek Island, Albert Leonard, Jr., 2. An Introduction to Wine of Ancient Crete, Philip P. Betancourt, 3. The Early Bronze Age: An Early Phase in a Long Tradition of Wine in Crete, Philip P. Betancourt, 4. The Middle Bronze Age: Wine Trade in Crete, Philip P. Betancourt, 5. The Late Bronze Age: What the Minoan Tablets Say about Wine, Philip P. Betancourt, 6. Classical Greece: Dionysos/Bacchus, the Greco-Roman God of Wine, Philip P. Betancourt, 7. Cretan Heritage 1: The Wine Glass with a Stem and Base, Philip P. Betancourt, 8. Cretan Heritage 2: The Great Jar Tradition, Philip P. Betancourt, 9. Byzantine Wine and the Geoponika, Philip P. Betancourt, 10. The Enigmatic Malvasia di Candia Wine, Albert Leonard, Jr., 11. The Heritage Grapes of Cretan Wine, Albert Leonard, Jr., 12. The Message on the Bottle, Albert Leonard, Jr., 13. Glimpses of the Past in the Future of Cretan Wines: Resins, Raisins, Pots, and People, Albert Leonard, Jr.

Hardback: 136 pp., 120 images in the text.
(Paperback, INSTAP Academic Press, 2025)

ISBN 978-1-931534-43-7