Idaia Winery

Idaia is a small family winery at Venerato in the Malevizi district of Crete, owned by the husband-and-wife oenologists Vasilis Laderos and Calliope Volitaki.

Crete has been making wine longer than almost anywhere in Europe. The Minoans were producing it four thousand years ago, and a wine press excavated at Vathypetro dates from around 1600 BC. That continuity was nearly broken in the twentieth century, when phylloxera and then a preference for bulk production reduced the island's distinctive varieties to marginal plantings.

Vidiano and Thrapsathiri are the two the estate has built its name on, both Cretan natives that barely leave the island. Vidiano in particular is now regarded as one of the most promising white grapes in Greece. The vineyards sit at altitude on the slopes of Mount Psiloritis, which is what keeps the wines fresh at this latitude.