Lesbian Wine - Modern Winemaking

Modern Winemaking

In the beginning of the 19th century the spread of phylloxera to Lesbos as well as the island's specialization in ouzo led to the stagnation of Lesbian wine production. After this point in time, wine was only privately produced on the island by farmers, until 1997, when Methymnaeos, the first winery producing bottled wine in the history of Lesbos, began operations in the village of Chidira. Methymnaeos solely produces organic wine made exclusively from the revived Chidiriotiko grape variety of the island. This variety, saved from extinction by phylloxera because of its use by the winery, is cultivated on the sulfuric lava which formed the Petrified Forest of Lesbos. This soil favors organic farming. The resulting organic wine has a rather distinct taste, characteristic of modern Lesbian Wine and attributable both to the unique Chidiriotiko grape variety of the island and to the terroir where it is grown.