Both the Cyclades archipelago southeast of Greece and the two large islands and popular tourist destinations of Crete and Rhodes have significant viticulture. The Cyclades themselves are now largely barren and arid, especially since they have hardly any tree cover. The hot summer temperatures are only moderated by the mild sea winds, the "Meltemi". In total, the Cyclades have about 4100 hectares of vineyards. Especially on the islands of Tinos, Mykonos, Naxos and Syros there is still a stock of extremely old vines, because the phylloxera probably did not reach here due to the poor soils.
Particularly noteworthy is the island of Santorini with its volcanic soils, which sometimes produce beautiful, spicy-fresh white wines. The highest accolade is however held by the island of Samos, near the Turkish coast. Samos is unique in the European wine world, because there is only one grape variety on the whole island, the Muscat Blanc. From this, an excellent and internationally renowned sweet wine is produced, and this again by only one producer: the "Union des Cooperatives Vinicoles de Samos". Their "Nectar" is without question one of the great sweet wines of the international wine world.
Mention must also be made of the island of Lemnos with its fragrant dry white wines made from the Muscat d'Alexandrie grape variety. The second largest Mediterranean island, Crete, is only now gradually recovering from phylloxera, which destroyed vineyards as recently as 1972. Since some autochthonous grape varieties take a long time to build up after a new planting, viticulture land on the island lay fallow for a long time.
After that, the vineyards were often subdued by international varieties.
Today, wines from Crete are gradually re-emerging, showing promise for the future. There is also notable viticulture on the island of Rhodes, but so far it plays only a minor role outside the island.
