Reviews

Great opportunity to taste native wine and...

8/7/16
Great opportunity to taste native wine and to learn new things about wineries in overall. Though it's better to call first before visit.
Source: google Vjacheslav Sorokin
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About Winery and Wines

The story of the renowned MINOS Cretan wines starts unravelling in the mid 19th century, when Antonis Miliarakis left the village of Miliarado in the province of Viannos, in Crete, and settled in the region of Peza, 17 km south of Heraklion. Peza was a riders’ resting area, where horses were fed and riders relaxed and spent the night before setting off the next morning for Chandakas or Megalo Castro – which was the name Heraklion was known by at the time – the gates of which opened in the morning and closed in the evening. Thus, Peza was the perfect place for inns, taverns and coffee shops to be established. During the last years of the Ottoman rule, those who anticipated what the future held, bought land and fields from the Ottomans who lived in the village, who were gradually abandoning Crete; this meant that many Peza locals found themselves the proud owners of noteworthy real estate during the first years of the Cretan State (1989-1913). With the end of Ottoman rule and the abolition of closing the gates into Chandakas, the role played by Peza as a place for lodging became obsolete and economic activity in the area turned to wine trading. Many wine merchants were active during the 1870-1930 period: they bought grapes from farmers in the region, pressed them in their own presses, stored the wine in wooden barrels and then sold it on the domestic market, in Emparo, Viannos, Lasithi, Messara, and Heraklion. This was the economic and business environment in which the Miliarakis brothers business grew: they turned Antonakis’ Inn, which had provided travellers with a plate of hot food and a glass of wine since the 19th century, into a winery.