Liatiko

Liatiko is the oldest and most widely planted red grape on Crete, and one of the more paradoxical grapes in Greece. Its skin is dark, but the wine it makes is famously pale, a translucent ruby that browns toward garnet with age. What it lacks in colour it makes up for in perfume and texture, giving soft, low-tannin reds that smell of red cherry, rose petal, dried herbs and sweet spice and feel almost silky on the palate.

History and the name

The romantic version of Liatiko's story has it growing on Crete since the 3rd or 2nd century BCE, a claim that rests on grape remains found in ancient presses at the Melissa site in the Dafnes zone. That is an inference from an archaeological site rather than a proven identification of this particular variety, so it is best treated as local tradition. The firm documentary trail is medieval and later: Liatiko appears in texts from the 13th century and in Venetian-era records, and it was a backbone of the sweet Cretan Malvasia, or Malmsey, that Venetian traders shipped across Renaissance Europe. Four hundred years of paperwork is still a serious pedigree.

Even the name is debated. The common reading is that it comes from Iouliatiko, meaning "of July," for the vine's early colour change, though the grapes are usually picked in August or September, which complicates the story. Others tie it to elia, the Greek word for olive, because the berries resemble small olives.

In the glass

Liatiko is made both dry and gloriously sweet. The dry reds are medium to full-bodied, high in alcohol, low in tannin and moderate in acidity, with an aromatic lift that has drawn comparisons to Nebbiolo. The sweet versions, made from sun-dried grapes rather than fortification, concentrate the fruit into something that can age for decades. Old, large oak barrels are the traditional home for both. Despite the similar name, Liatiko is not related to Italy's Aleatico; ampelographers treat them as separate varieties.

Where it grows

Liatiko is the sole permitted grape in PDO Dafnes, west of Heraklion, and the lead grape in PDO Sitia out in the remote east, where up to a fifth of the blend can be Mandilaria for colour and grip. Eastern Crete around Sitia is its historic heartland. Benchmark bottlings come from Domaine Economou in Sitia, who works vines averaging around ninety years and releases the wine a decade or more after harvest, and from Douloufakis and Lyrarakis in the Heraklion zones.