Rethymno, the unique “labyrinth” of Crete, the crossroad of Agri-Food & taste fascinates with its local character and cosmopolitan style.
Curation: Katerina Karsioti
8 stopovers directly to Place and People
Rethymno is a place with endless mountains and an endless sea embracing both locals and visitors.
With incomparable traditional villages where customs have the first say, with Byzantine and Venetian churches as well as minarets reminding of an opulent mosaic of cultures arches and mansions guiding traveller on a journey through a Renaissance setting.
A proliferation of elements and characteristics create the narrative of Rethymno which is lavishing, powerful, elegant and aromatic.
But mainly its storyline is orchestrated by its special agro-tourism landscape, its fertile land, its unique terroir and those Rethemniotic flavors that excite all the senses.
1st stopover: Kladou Winery
This is where the Vidiano variety finds its place.
It is a “Cretan” variety with an excellent future and excellent potential, meaning that its history has been written in recent years.
It is located mainly around the area of Rethymno and covers small regions while there is also a short number of vineyards near Heraklion.
Kladou Winery, which is a family business founded in 1997 by the chemist-oenologist Emmanuel Klados, has since 2007 been moved to new, privately owned facilities with modern machinery in Rethymno.
The visitor to Skepasti in Rethymno becomes acquainted with a modern building of 700 square meters with the winery being surrounded by a vineyard where, according to the organic standards of DIO, the local white variety Vidiano is cultivated.
Presently, approximately 100,000lt of wine are produced per year and the red varieties Liatiko, Kotsifali, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah are vinified as well as the white varieties Vidiano, Vilana, Plyto, Thrapsathiri, Moschato spinas and Sauvignon Blanc.
Tips
The wine tours, the tastings as well as the joint actions that take place at the Estate with the backdrop of the magnificent vineyards, will definitely be imprinted in your memory.
2nd stopover: Agricultural Cooperative of Mylopotamos
Upon visiting a place like Mylopotamos, acquiring extremely important agricultural production, the Agricultural Cooperative of Mylopotamos, which has been active since 1977, is literally a milestone.
It is an essential core that not only supports local producers but is also the driving force of the region’s local economy.
This specific stopover entails food tasting of the famous PDO Gruyere of Crete as well as the excellent virgin olive oil ATALI PDO North Mylopotamos.
ATALI olive oil possesses a sweet flavor, an attractive golden color and a fruity aftertaste.
These characteristics rank it high among consumer preferences and are attributed to the region’s favorable climate, soil characteristics, growing and harvesting practices, as well as attentive handling during pressing and bottling.
As for the renowned gruyere, it has a white-yellow color and small scattered holes that impresses with its aroma and taste.
Its annual production amounts to approximately 500 tons and, for its preparation, only milk is used deriving from goats and sheep of Mylopotamos region.
The PDO gruyere of Crete matures for at least 3 months and acquires special characteristics that make it really sought after.
Tips
One should not forget to try or fill one’s “suitcase” with Gravieraki, Kefalotyri, Mizithra, Minoan cheese which is a white brine cheese produced according to the production technique of feta and of course Xynomyzithra PDO produced from pure goat’s and sheep’s milk coming from stock grazing in the highlands of Mylopotamos.
3rd stopover: Euosmos Olive Oil Mill
Cretan olive oil, which is also the basis of the Mediterranean diet, is in the foreground at the Euosmos Olive Oil Mill in Episkopi region.
In a region with unique microclimate allots special aromatic characteristics to the product.
People at Euosmos Olive Oil Mill have a family tradition in the cultivation and production of olive oil, carrying on with passion and dedication aiming at further promoting and extroverting the Greek green gold.
The varieties that prevail in the olive groves are mainly koroneiki and tsounati with the visitor enjoying a fragrant trip through citrus fruits, fresh almond, artichoke, tomato, grass and Cretan herbs.
Tips
The excellent olive oil from tsounati variety makes the difference, so it’s definitely worth trying.
Of course, tasting the edible olives is an absolute must as these are small raw whole olives bathing in water, salt, vinegar, citrus juice and of course in extra virgin olive oil.
4th stopover: Amari Cheese Factory
At the foot of Psiloritis, 30 km. from the bewitching city of Rethymno, spreads the green valley of Amari with dozens of villages and endless olive groves, with a rare natural wealth consisting of 1642 indigenous crops and flora species.
Goats and sheep graze on the wild herbs and vegetables, drink the spring water and rest under the apple and cherry trees granting their milk the following morning.
At this point the well-known cheese factory Amari, with respect for tradition, with knowledge of the art of cheesemaking, with an obsession with the excellent quality of the final product, with patience in the ripening times, with a disposition for continuous improvement and development, but above all with love for people and interest in their nutrition creates real “cheese treasures”.
The goat milk is collected daily by the producers and transported, from the milk collection stations installed by the firm, to the cheese factory with utmost care and dedication.
With products that have set up literally a “trend”, with mizithra, hard and white cheeses and also a “dreamy” yoghurt.
Form the most “cheesy” basket with galomizithra but also sweet mizithra, with dry anthotyro but also with goat and sheep white cheese spread as well as aged Cretan graviera and graviera with bukovo.
In the valleys and hills of Amari, the flock of sheep and goats are fed, producing milk to create an excellent quality variety of cheeses” refer people of the Amari Cheese Factory.
Tips
Exploit gastronomically the mizithra in such a way that will warm up your winter but also grant endless taste.
For this occasion, baked vegetables with trachana or xinochondro and mizithra from Amari Cheese Shop is an absolute must.
5th stopover: Creta Carob
This stopover is dedicated to one of the most healing and valuable fruits that the island adores and uses particularly. The reason for the carob being the ultimate treasure of of many “carats”.
Carob or Ceratea is that long-lived and evergreen tree, native to the Mediterranean, which you often find cultivated, from the coasts of North Africa and the Ionian Sea to the Middle East, known since antiquity.
In addition to offering a fruit of high nutritional value, it is worth mentioning that in times of war and famine, when other goods were hard to find, carobs were what essentially fed the world.
Carob is a fruit rich in calcium and although sweet it is surprising because it contains 60% fewer calories than chocolate.
It is abundant in potassium, contains significant amounts of phosphorus, has an anti-cancer effect and its antioxidant properties are “present”.
The bold move for its use was made by the founder of Creta Carob, Ilias Manousakas.
With its establishment in Argyroupoli of Rethymno, in 2006, it was meant to become the pride of the place, as the tree being used for its production, the carob, in addition to its organic cultivation, is native to many regions of the Mediterranean and in Greece, in particular in Crete and Cyprus, so the raw material is abundant.
The company uses 100% Cretan carob trees as it makes the most of the existing trees and in this way has almost doubled the value of the product.
Thus, anyone who has carobs in their field, collects the fruit and helps to exploit it, is completely consistent with the model of an ecological production with a very low energy footprint (low energy footprint), according to which Creta Carob operates.
Tips
The carob nut is definitely worth tasting it, the handmade carob and chocolate bar adds up a whole new meaning in your morning and afternoon meals, organic carob honey which will provide a different taste to your recipes as well as to the tea drink of carob that naturally makes the difference.
Don’t forget to take a good care of your “stomach” as well your “face” as in Creta Carob you will find products carob-based beautification for which one can “flirt” of course with the anti-wrinkle face serum with carob honey.
6th stopover: Antonaki Farm
It is worth making one, two, or three stops at this particular farm as it is a qualitative production unit.
With love, passion and dedication to Cretan cuisine and local gastronomy, they create local delicacies exclusively from meat with the quality overflowing from every dish and recipe.
After all, for the entire Antonaki Farm team, a key component is hospitality, which is perfectly combined with local flavors and native cuisine, with appetizers accompanying raki and wine.
Antonaki Farm has more than 35 years in the meat cutting, processing and marketing sector, with a vision to offer the consumer pure meat products.
It has therefore created a series of smoked products that stand out for their quality and special taste.
The consumer at the farm can find from Smoked Apaki of Crete, Smoked Village Sausage with Feta to Smoked Steak with thyme honey and anything else you can imagine.
Tips
Smoked food must be served on the table sausage with goat cheese, the smoked Cretan siglino and certainly the smoked pancetta with thyme honey.
Culinary delicacies with high quality meat enriched with herbs and other local products of the island.
7th stopover: Zoumberakis Winery
Back to wine, this time at the Zoumberakis Family where viticulture production of fine wines started about 3 generations ago.
With vineyards covering an area of 100 acres of exclusively organic cultivation in a natural landscape remarkably fascinating with its beauty.
All the estates are located in Kali Sykia, in the southwest of the Prefecture of Rethymno, on the slopes of Krioneritis at an altitude of 600-800 meters.
It is worth mentioning that Krioneritis is a natural continuation of the White Mountains and acquires ideal morphological and climatic conditions for the development of a rich ecosystem.
Zoumberaki Family states that “the cycle of good organic wine naturally begins with the grape varieties that will produce it” for this reason and is very proud of the varieties being hosted in its vineyards.
In fact, among the varieties there are also grapes from which the ancient Greeks also produced wine, such as Liatiko and Kotsifali, which were in the vineyards of King Minos, or Limniotiko, from which the fabled wine that the Greeks drank in the campaign of Troy.
The composition of red varieties from the vineyard of Zoumberaki Family, for the production of red wine, includes Liatiko, Kotsifali, Achladi, Agiorgitiko, Limniotiko, Cabernet, Merlot, while for the white wines, Vidiano, Vilana and Thrapsathiri.
Tips
Create your own wine tasting, hosting necessarily on your table KORYFI KRIONERITI, white wine from 100% Vidiano, VALLERINA, rosé wine from 100% Liatiko and Liasto, one product organic farming, from the selected red, Cretan Liatiko varieties and Kotsifali.
Don’t forget to take with you the traditional PETIMEZORAKI liqueur ,where in an unexpected “marriage” of flavors, the Cretan tsikoudia is uniquely combined with petimezi. A 100% organic product, made with the secrets of tradition and the purest ingredients of biological culture.
8th stopover: Vogiatzidakis Cheese Factory
In Rustica of Rethymno, a cheese factory has such a great tradition that every visitor is left speechless, a 63 year old cheese factory which to this very day continues its work with love and passion for the product, offering the consumer buttery flower cheeses, matured gruyere and aromatic hard cheeses.
Its people pay enormous attention to the processing of the raw material as well as undivided respect to the traditional family recipes, passed down from generation to generation.
In the traditional VOGIATZIDAKIS cheese factory, traditional and modern techniques are blended with perfect technological equipment, elements that ensure the final quality of the products.
Pure and authentic gems of cheese stand out for their luscious taste as they do not contain any preservatives following the art of traditional local cheese making.
Tips
During your visit to the cheese factory in Rethymno, it would be an excellent opportunity to follow the production process learning some of the secrets but also to get a taste of the seductive buttery flower cheese but also from the plenteous Cretan graviera.
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