Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Europe
347
Boutari Fantaxometoho
Dionysus on a Motorbike
Crete, Greece
What is the first thing you do when you
arrive on the island of Crete? Hire a scooter
in the sun-kissed capital of Heraklion and
head for the hills. Zoom by the 16th-century
Venetian fortress that dominates the sky-
line, pounded on all sides by a dark blue
sea. Mountains beckon in the distance,
some tipped with snow. Green villages dot
the rugged landscape, surrounded by vine-
yards and olive groves. As you zip up and
down the twisting roads, mountain goats
scamper from the roadside and farmers
can be seen in the distance herding their
sheep. You glide past meadows of wild-
flowers and fields of chamomile, punctu-
ated with ancient Minoan ruins.
Eventually you reach a long, gently slop-
ing driveway leading to a low glass-fronted
building. This is Boutari Fantaxometoho,
headquarters of a 122-year-old group that
owns eight vineyards across the country.
Crete's showcase winery, it announces to
the world that the island will no longer be
known only for murky brown local wine,
now that it's producing quality wines that
can compete with the best.
Boutari means “the haunted house,”
referring to a legend about an old wine-
maker who, tired of local youths stealing
his wine, cleverly invented a dramatic
story about a terrifying ghost haunting his
house. This supernatural security guard
kept the superstitious locals away. The
name stuck.
But there is nothing ghostly about the
modern Boutari—it is slick and stylish,
with its curved glass facade overlooking
the vineyards. The tasting room is cool in
every sense of the word, with air-condi-
tioning and subtle lighting. Gracious staff
present wines with unpronounceable
names as well as more conventional vari-
etals such as Syrah and Chardonnay. Sev-
eral charming buildings lead to gorgeous
flower-decked courtyards, and the original
“haunted” house is a rickety little cottage
framed with flowers—an appealing mix of
old and new.
Crete's wine tradition goes back millen-
nia, but its recent history has been as
patchy as the landscape. In the Middle
Ages, Venetian traders set up wineries,
the ruins of which can still be seen today
on rocky outcrops. But when the Turks
invaded, they frowned upon alcohol, and
the vineyards gave way to olive trees.
Modern Greek wine focused on low-quality
grapes, and a brief renaissance in the '70s
was stopped in its tracks by a phylloxera
outbreak. Only recently has industry got-
ten back on its feet, with the sunny island
now producing one-fifth of Greece's wine.
After sampling wine in the gorgeous
tasting room, get on your feet and climb
the hill behind the winery buildings. At the
top, the island stretches before you (it is a
marvelous view at sunset). Below you lies
an ancient winemaking land, the same
land that produced Europe's first wine—a
pleasant reminder that Dionysus, god of
wine and ecstasy, was Greek.
Boutari Fantaxometoho,
Heraklion
(
&
30/210/660-5200;
www.boutari.gr).
(
Heraklion (15km/9 miles).
L
$$$
Lato Boutique Hotel,
15 Epi-
mendou St., Heraklion (
&
30/2810/228103;
www.lato.gr). $$
Nymphes Luxury
Apartments,
Aglia Pelagia, Heraklion
(
&
30/2810/371605;
www.nymphes-apts.
gr).
