Lesbos wine facts for kids
Lesbos wine is a special type of wine made on the Greek island of Lesbos. This island, located in the Aegean Sea, has been making wine for a very long time. People were already making wine here in the 7th century BC! That's over 2,700 years ago! Even the famous ancient Greek writer Homer mentioned it in his stories.
Back then, Lesbos wine was very popular. It even competed with wines from another island called Chios to be the best in Greece. There's a story that the brother of the famous poet Sappho was a merchant who traded Lesbos wine all the way to an ancient Greek city in Egypt called Naucratis. A very famous Lesbos wine was known as Pramnian. This wine was so special that some people compare it to a very sweet Hungarian wine called Tokaji Eszencia. Lesbos wine continued to be highly valued even during Roman times, just like other great Greek wines from islands like Chios, Thasos, and Kos.
Growing Grapes for Wine
The island of Lesbos has a warm Mediterranean climate. This kind of weather is perfect for growing grapes and making wine. The exact types of grapes used for the ancient Pramnian wine are not fully known. However, we do know how it was made.
The winemakers would let the grapes stay on the vine until they were super ripe. This is similar to how some sweet "late harvest" wines are made today. After picking, the grapes were piled into big containers. The weight of the grapes on top would gently crush the ones underneath. This created a special juice without needing a wine press. People said this juice was very thick and tasted like a sweet nectar.
Different Kinds of Pramnian Wine
Many experts believe Lesbos was the main place for Pramnian wine. But the name was also used for wines from other places like Smyrna and Icaria. A Greek writer named Athenaeus sometimes used "Pramnian" as a general term. He used it to describe any dark, good quality wine that could last a long time.
Athenaeus also described Pramnian wine differently from a sweet, Tokay-like wine. He said it was dry and very strong. The grape juice, called must, had a lot of sugar. Even after a short time of fermenting, it still had high sugar levels. This made it a thick, honey-like sweet wine.
Modern Winemaking
Around the early 19th century, a tiny bug called phylloxera spread to Lesbos. This bug attacks grapevines and can destroy them. Also, the island started focusing more on making ouzo, a popular Greek drink. These things caused wine production on Lesbos to slow down a lot. For a long time, wine was mostly made by farmers just for themselves.
Then, in 1997, something new happened! A winery called Methymnaeos opened in the village of Chidira. It was the first winery on Lesbos to produce bottled wine for sale. Methymnaeos makes only organic wine. They use a special grape variety from the island called Chidiriotiko. This grape was almost lost because of phylloxera, but the winery helped save it.
The Chidiriotiko grapes grow in unique soil. This soil is made from sulfuric lava from the Petrified Forest of Lesbos. This type of soil is great for organic farming. The organic wine made here has a very distinct taste. This special taste comes from both the unique Chidiriotiko grape and the special land, or terroir, where it grows.
