The art of making wine, which can produce an enduring and body-building syrah, is to be found from a very gentle and friendly place. About half-way between Chania and Rhethymnon, in Crete, you will find a big crossing of roads leading towards Vrisses. It was more than worth while to curve away from the main road, and to drive pleasantly towards south to reach Dourakis' vinyards and winery - to a pre-ordered meeting. In the large tasting-room we could experience Andreas' and his son's wines. And enjoy the art of cooking by wine-master Andreas' wife, which made the wine-tasting an authentic experiece - the kind that should surround tasting wines - without snobbery. But with expert guidance by the makers of wines.
Greek
and Cretan wines with their long history should not be a subject to teach winelovers. But to many of us it seems now to be necessary to become aware of the present situation with Greek and Cretan wines.
Besides Dourakis
Crete has e.g. Douloufakis, a bit south from Heraklion, Monastery of Agia Triada of Jagarolon on the peninsula of Akrotiri, and several other vinyards producing wines with modern methods, which benefit from the benevolent surroundings to grow grapes, from the skill of growing grapes for centuries or even milleniums, and from modern ways of making wine.
The
excellence with the mentioned, and many others Cretan vinyards, is also their devotion to the high quality of wines produced from local grapes. Kotsifali should be a friend to a real winelover! Not to mention many other local grapes.
Dourakis
Syrah is a fine re-birth of an international grape in the homeland of wine. Fourteen months in French oak-casks, before bottling, has achieved/preserved an intense, dark wine with a taste of dark berries and peppers, hues of herbs, and a full-bodied Cretan experience of a syrah.
http://www.nettivuori.com/weeklywine/2010-03.html