Hallgarten adds first Crete wine as "alternative to Santorini"

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 17 June, 2016

Hallgarten is adding a trio of white wines from Crete to its Greek offering as an affordable alternative to "increasingly expensive" Santorini wines.

The specialist importer has seen an increasing demand for Greek wines, and now they are preparing to launch the Idaia winery - it's first wine from Crete - in restaurants, wine bars and independent wine merchants across the UK.

Steve Daniel, Hallgarten's head of buying, was one of the first people to introduce Greek wines to the UK trade in the nineties when he worked for Oddbins.

He says that Cretan wines are on a par in terms of quality and price with what Santorini wines were five years ago.

"Santorini is now a trendy place with trendy wines, but it is a very small island and is becoming increasingly expensive. You won't get Santorini wines for under £10 - I'd say it's closer to £20. I wanted something with minerality which could offer consumers an affordable alternative," he said.

The image of Greek wine has drastically improved in recent years, with Hallgarten now stocking 35 wines from seven different wineries.

This popularity has been hard-won however.

Daniel said: "Previously, everyone approached Greek wines with great caution. At tastings, people would refuse to drink it. A lot of people had bad experiences in Greece in the seventies, but there is a new generation now, which hasn't grown up with that prejudice. Greece has benefitted from being in the EU and investment."

In terms of Crete as an emerging sub-category, he added: "I'd been looking at Crete for a long time. The wines were once awful but there was potential. Crete has good altitude and limestone soil and lots of indigenous varietals."

The family-owned Idaia Winery in Crete was founded in 2001 and specialises in wines from the island's indigenous grape varieties including Thrapshathiri, Vilana and Vidiano.

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