Lyrarakis Muscat of Spina

Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and one of the oldest winegrowing places on earth, with a viticultural history reaching back some four thousand years to the Minoans the island still holds one of the most ancient wine presses ever found. It is a big, mountainous island south of the mainland, close enough to North Africa to bake under a fierce sun, but its high interior altitudes and constant sea wind pull temperatures back into balance. Lyrarakis was founded in 1966 by brothers Manolis and Sotiris Lyrarakis in the village of Alagni, though the family did not bottle under its own name until 1992 and is now run by the second generation. Muscat of Spina is an aromatic white grape native to the far west of Crete, seldom seen even within Greece. In the glass it does what fine Muscat does best: a fragrant, floral, orange-blossom-and-citrus perfume, but here kept dry, fresh and lifted rather than sweet, with the island’s signature acidity underneath.