Τhe Economou Wines – A Mad Max Universe at the end of the world

When I started writing this story, in the airplane flying back from Sitia to Athens many titles popped up in my head; Mad Max Universe, End of the World, or even the Antikythyra mechanism, all sounded appropriate. For the world of Yiannis Economou in Ziros, to the south of the city of Sitia in the furthest eastern part of Crete, is a singular one. As are his wines. Wines not for the faint hearted, a cross of aged Rioja with the power of Gevrey - Chambertin and some Barbaresco charm. Released with considerable age; 2004 was released last year while 2008 is the next in line. 

An uncompromised man of passion and vision sets the tone as we start touring the vineyards. “The broader area of Sitia is very different compared to the rest of Crete; here we play the violin and not the lyre as our strongest influence came from the Dodecanese” he says. He owns 16 ha with 10 of those under production all in Sitia PDO at altitudes of 550 to 650m. The entire area is semi mountainous peaking to 700m. There is a constant see breeze cooling temperatures down and contrary to what might one expect the average temp for summer is just 25C. There is considerable rainfall (600mm on average but 2019 experienced 1900mm!).