Economou - The Wonderful Winemaker of Crete

Crete is, I'm sure, a beautiful place steeped in history. Its proud inhabitants (Cretans, not Cretins thank you!) are well-known for their independent nature, their zest for life and their fierce resistance to conquerors of any shape or size. What they have not been known for until recently is for their world-class wines.

Let's be clear here, Crete used to produce decent wines for glugging and excellent - and famous - grape alcohol (raki or tsikoudia). In days gone by Cretan wine was mainly sold in bulk or as relatively inexpensive bottled stuff, ripe and juicy but undistinguished. A new generation of wine producers has set about to change that, introduce modern methods in field and winery, and generally change the profile of their beloved island's wine; by and large they are succeeding, with some decent, even very good, stuff hitting both the domestic and export markets relatively recently. A number of domaines are now making and bottling individual, well-made modern wines largely from local varieties, and they're impressing the marketplace.

The curious thing is that there is a grower in Crete really making waves and producing staggeringly good, hugely individual wines that are interesting on any scale, anywhere. His wines are not 'modern' in style yet are faultless and true show stoppers through subtlety rather than brutishness, full of class, personality and character. He is a natural and organic wine producer, utilises mainly local, unfashionable grape varieties (his main Sitia red wine is made mainly from the obscure Liatiko variety and very old vines), low yields and traditional methods to produce his nectars. To top it all, this curious specimen is not a self-promoter, not a social media wizard, not interested in being a star - he just wants to make the best wine he can using the tools and ingredients available to him. And while his training has been in modern winemaking, the wine that he produces is closer to an idealised, fictional past. The late Haridimos Hatzidakis, the tortured genius of Santorini winemaking, even provided Economou with some of his Assyrtiko vines so that he could experiment with this and apply his and the local terroir's magic to this stellar variety.

With limited production and well-deserved acclaim his wines are not easy to find and may appear expensive. Don't be fooled, for any true wine lover they're worth seeking out and merit every penny for their multi-layered complexity, their unique flavours and highly individual character. Often wines like these can be what we call in the wine trade 'interesting' i.e. wines that you drink out of curiosity but rarely for pleasure - these are an exception!

Last night we were served a white 2009 and a red Sitia 1998 by my friend YT who knows Yiannis Economou, has visited him and loves what is happening there - and what's not to love? The wines on the night were both stunning:

1. The white had a light orange colour but was youthful and fresh with a hint of rosewater and nuts on nose and palate. I would like to taste it again in a few years time, but love it now; it is unlike any other Greek white wine, made from local grapes Thrapsathiri and Vilana.
2. The red, not perhaps from a top vintage, was relatively light in colour with little sign of ageing, with delicate cherry and sun-dried tomato hints, soft tannins and a long finish. And plenty of sediment, as befits its unfiltered status. In order to qualify for the Sitia appellation it will now have to include 20% of Mandilaria, which may or may not happen according to each vintage and Yianni Economou's judgement.

Economou wines are individual, inspiring, alluring bottle of wine to excite and delight any real wine lover. To me they are also exciting because they show that you can be guided by your passion and need not tow the line in order to make good wine, success being all about the product and its quality and characteristics - the Economou 'brand', such as it is, is a by-product of this.

Finally, I would like to close by introducing a young winemaker and his first wine, tried as an aperitif before the aforementioned gems. His name is Foivos Papastratis and for his first attempt he has produced a very respectable, well-made white wine from the much in fashion Assyrtiko variety in a blend with Muscat. Not only was the wine impeccably faultless, clean and distinctive, it was also very pleasant to drink, seemingly the product of a seasoned professional. My personal taste is against combinations like this, where a highly aromatic variety is matched with a more subtle, complex one, but that is by the by. There young winemaker has produced a wine of style and quality and is, most definitely, someone to watch for the future as he develops his individual style. A star is born?

The food we had was entirely secondary to the wine, so doesn't get a mention, but the wines were a meal in themselves. Every time I taste Economou's wines I am more and more impressed and, while I cannot afford to buy his creations in my present impecunious state, I will continue to drink them whenever and wherever offered them. And, if you know what's good for you, you should too.