Vidiano

Vidiano is the white grape that turned Crete's wine story around. Twenty years ago it was almost extinct, surviving as a few old ungrafted vines. Today it is the island's flagship fine white and the grape most likely to convince a sceptic that Crete makes serious wine. It is full-bodied and stone-fruited, with peach, apricot, melon and honey over a creamy, mouth-coating texture, closer in spirit to a textural white than an overtly aromatic one.

Back from the edge

By the end of the twentieth century Vidiano had almost disappeared, a casualty of Crete's focus on bulk wine. Its revival is a genuine modern rescue: growers tracked down very old self-rooted vines in the Rethymno hills, took cuttings and replanted. Nikos Douloufakis of Dafnes is widely credited with the reintroduction, seeking out old interplanted mountain vines in the early 2000s, and Lyrarakis and Diamantakis have been central too. The variety is indigenous to Rethymno, though its history and etymology are wrapped in competing traditions rather than firm record.

Vidiano is genetically close to Vilana; a peer-reviewed Cretan study in 2023 found the two clustering together and pointing to a common origin, though it stops short of a proven parent-and-child link. It is also often described as a relative of Thrapsathiri. The neat family tree that sometimes gets drawn for the three is more than the evidence supports; close relatives sharing a genetic neighbourhood is the honest version.

In the glass

Vidiano is made in stainless steel for freshness and, increasingly, barrel-fermented for a richer, age-worthy style; Douloufakis even makes a traditional-method sparkling version. It is medium to full-bodied with medium to high alcohol and enough acidity to stay fresh, and the best oak-aged single-vineyard bottlings are showing that it can improve for five years or more. It suits seafood pasta and charcoal-grilled fish, and its texture handles richer white dishes. The reference wine is Douloufakis's single-vineyard Aspros Lagos; Lyrarakis and Diamantakis are also names to look for.