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Wine region

Crete

Crete is a wine region in Greece, home to 10 wineries, producing red, rose, white wines.

Crete at a glance: white-leaning; wines range from IGP to PDO.
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Crete's 10 wineries lean white but make plenty of red too; Assyrtiko is the most common single-grape bottling; wines carry IGP, PDO, PGI designation.

About the Crete region

    Location
    Crete (/ k r iː t / KREET; Greek: Κρήτη, Modern: Kríti [ˈkriti], Ancient: Krḗtē [krɛ̌ːtεː]) is the largest and most populous island of Greece, the 89th largest island in the world, and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, a…
    Climate
    Crete straddles two climatic zones, the Mediterranean and the semi-arid climate, mainly falling within the former.
    Soils
    Cretan vineyards include mountain calcisols and limestone-derived soils ranging from dense clay to sandy loam.

Region facts sourced from Wikipedia contributors, "Crete", Wikipedia, revision 1363325202, retrieved 2026-07-11. (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International), Wikipedia contributors, “Cretan wine”, revision 1290565529, retrieved 2026-07-12. (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International).

Most common single-grape wines

When Crete wines are made from a single grape (rather than a blend), these are the most common:

Wine profile

Crete leans white (about 55% of its wines) but makes meaningful red too.

65 distinct Crete wines tracked, spanning the colours and styles below.

  • White36 · 55%
  • Red24 · 37%
  • Rose5 · 8%

Types: Sparkling, Still.

Representative Crete wines

Selected from stable product-to-region relationships for diversity — not a claim that these are the region's best wines.

  • Lyrarakis — Mandilari Plakoura
  • Douloufakis Winery — Enotria White
  • Lyrarakis — Vilana
  • Lyrarakis — Dafni Mistirio
  • Diamantakis — Prinos White
  • Lyrarakis — Ayrarakis Liastos White
  • Lyrarakis — Heritage Red
  • Douloufakis Winery — Sauvignon Blanc

Sub-regions & appellations

Within Crete, these appellationsA legally-defined smaller growing area within a wine region, often with its own grapes and rules. are smaller growing areas, often with their own character:

  • Sitia
  • Rethymno

Quality designations

Wines here span quality tiers from everyday IGP to the strictly-controlled PDO — you'll find both accessible and prestige bottles.

  • IGPEU Protected Geographical Indication (Indication Géographique Protégée) — a regional wine label, broader than AOP.
  • PDOEU Protected Designation of Origin — guarantees a wine comes from and is made in a specific place.
  • PGIEU Protected Geographical Indication — a broader regional label than PDO.

Greece wine designations

IGP
IGP denotes the EU protected geographical indication scheme for food and wine, linking a product’s quality, reputation or other characteristic to geographical origin.
PDO
PDO is the European Union protected designation of origin category.
PGI
PGI is the European Union protected geographical indication category.
Understanding the wine data
Designation
The protected-origin or administrative category associated with the wine, interpreted using country-aware rules. The same abbreviation can mean different things in different countries, so we only show the meaning approved for that country.
How this ranking is built

Producers are included when WhatDrink has a canonical producer-to-region relationship supported by the catalogue data. Display order may use represented wine count and relationship confidence to provide useful coverage; it is not a ranking of winery quality, prestige, production volume or critical acclaim.

Representative wines are selected from products with a stable relationship to this region, with preference for clear producer identity and a useful spread of producers, wine styles and designations. Inclusion is not an editorial score and does not mean these are the region’s best wines.

How to choose a good Crete wine

For everyday drinking, IGP bottles are the accessible choice; for something special, PDO signals the region's most tightly-controlled, prestige wines.

FAQs

Where is Crete?
Crete ( / k r iː t / KREET ; Greek : Κρήτη , Modern : Kríti [ˈkriti] , Ancient : Krḗtē [krɛ̌ːtεː] ) is the largest and most populous island of Greece , the 89th largest island in the world, and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea , after Sicily , Sardinia , Cyprus , and Corsica .
What do the designation terms on Crete wines mean?
IGP: IGP denotes the EU protected geographical indication scheme for food and wine, linking a product’s quality, reputation or other characteristic to geographical origin. PDO: PDO is the European Union protected designation of origin category. PGI: PGI is the European Union protected geographical indication category. These terms describe geographical or regulatory categories; they do not by themselves guarantee that one producer or bottle is better than another.
How are wineries and producers selected for Crete?
Producers are included when WhatDrink has a canonical producer-to-region relationship supported by the catalogue data. Display order may use represented wine count and relationship confidence to provide useful coverage; it is not a ranking of winery quality, prestige, production volume or critical acclaim.
How are representative Crete wines selected?
Representative wines are selected from products with a stable relationship to this region, with preference for clear producer identity and a useful spread of producers, wine styles and designations. Inclusion is not an editorial score and does not mean these are the region’s best wines.
How much wine data does WhatDrink have for Crete?
The current regional catalogue contains 65 linked wines from 10 linked producers. Counts describe WhatDrink catalogue coverage and may change as source data is refreshed.

Regional data is aggregated from wine directory and product-catalogue sources; grape and style associations reflect characteristic varieties and may vary by producer and vintage.