Wine: An Ancient Gift From The Gods

You would certainly know that the Greeks are completely and utterly responsible for the blessing of WINE; all kinds of wine!

Certainly, the Greeks are considered the creators of red, rosé and white wines - with the 'finest' wines being thought to have been from Thásos, Lesbos and Chios regions. The reputation of the wine, of course, depended heavily on the region it was produced. Less 'fine' and more 'in-the-homes' of the country folk was an atypical table wine made from water and the residue from squeezed grapes and lees.

Like ancient wine critics, the poets of the time wrote and sang, and passed tradition about their favorite wines, the flavors, the textures - and so, we're able to learn much from these texts.

Historically, most Greek wines were cut with water, because not doing so was believed to cause madness and even - death.  This was a true attempt to monitor overuse and remain civilized while consuming wine. Undiluted wine, or akraton - and only believed to have been consumed by 'barbarians' in the northern regions of Europe.

Different variations of different types of wine had medicinal uses, Hippocrates having been quite successful in treating fevers and convalescence and even using wine as an antiseptic. Outside of these therapeutic uses, Greek society - for the most part -  did not approve of women drinking wine; it is said that some Greek laws* actually restricted women to drinking water. Sparta was the only city where women routinely drank wine.


(*and as a sidenote, Ziziki's certainly does not approve of this ancient Greek law! NO-OPA-THERE!)

The Greeks were quite innovative in their methods for creating wine, from the process of crushing their grapes, to the experimental tests of producing a more-or-less acidic wine by harvesting premature grapes. Greek wine was often with honey and made 'medicinal' by adding thyme, pennyroyal and other herbs. No stone was left unturned when it came to testing new wine variants.

Dionysus, it is certain - is very proud. Visit us at Ziziki's to test and find your favorite from our exclusive selection of fine wines at one of our Dallas wine bar locations.

Great Greek Wines

Greece is one of the oldest wine-producing regions in the world, and the origins of winemaking in Greece go back almost 7000 years. The spread of Greek civilization and their worship of Dionysus, the god of wine, helped to spread the love of wine throughout all Mediterranean areas. Greek wines and their varieties were well known and traded throughout the Mediterranean soon after it was discovered, and Hippocrates even used wine for medicinal purposes and gladly prescribed it to anyone in need of some quick help.

The most reputable wines of ancient Greece were Chian, Coan, Corcyraean, Cretan, Euboean, Lesbian, Leucadian, Mendaean, Peparethan wine, Rhodian and Thasian. In 1937, the Ministry of Agriculture established a Wine Institute, which was established to devote time to researching Greek Wine and to preserving and improving the country's winemaking. During the 1960s, Retsina suddenly became the national beverage. Retsina is a Greek white wine that has a unique flavor and is said to have originated from the practice of sealing wine vessels, particularly amphorae, with Aleppo Pine resin in ancient times. With rapidly growing tourism, Retsina became associated worldwide with Greece and Greek wine.