5,000 Years of Fine Cretan Wines

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 windswept 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 the evidence of 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!

Author Biography

Al Leonard is professor emeritus in Classical Archaeology and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Arizona, as well as an honorary associate at the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East. An archaeologist who specialises in the social impact of interregional trade, Al has directed excavations in Italy, Egypt, Cyprus, Portugal, Israel and Jordan, but Crete has always been his favourite place to excavate, study, or simply relax with a glass of fine Cretan wine. In addition to archaeology, Al writes and speaks on wine and food as his alter ego, the Time Traveling Gourmet, and has been a member of the Society of Wine Educators and of Slow Food International for over 20 years. He is the author of Mediterranean Wines of Place: A Celebration of Heritage Grapes (Lockwood Press, 2020).

Philip P. Betancourt is the Laura H. Carnell Professor Emeritus of Aegean Prehistoric Art and Archaeology at Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University in Philadelphia. He is the author or editor of an extensive series of books and other scholarly publications that primarily deal with research on the Minoan civilisation of the Aegean Bronze Age. He has been honoured with many awards including an honorary doctorate from the University of Athens, and the Gold Medal for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement from the Archaeological Institute of America.