A Cretan Dream

The Cretan Dream

Every year since 2010 my wife Caroline and I have travelled to Chania in Crete. There are several reasons for this - the fabulous weather, landscape, food and people to name a few. It might also have something to do with meeting the Manousakis family and their fabulous wines.

Usually we would rent a villa. The main reason for this is we like cooking our own food as well as going out, and above all we like privacy. However, last year was an incredibly busy year and rather than privacy, the thought of not having to cook, clean and be looked after was more appealing, so we booked a hotel. The experience was such that we have done exactly the same this year and are going back to the same hotel.

Where should I stay in Crete?

The Cretan Dream sits 15 minutes to the west of Chania right next to the sea. It is family run and isn’t a huge hotel so feels personal. One gets to know the small number of dedicated staff very well over the course of a holiday. Unsurprisingly we got to know the head sommelier Manolis very well. Having been to Crete now for 15 years, our local wine knowledge isn’t bad, but with Manolis guiding us, it has become a great deal better. He has persuaded Peter, the owner of the hotel who also loves wine - so I’m sure it wasn’t too difficult, to invest in an excellent cellar. With rare local wines as well as wines from Santorini and other Greek islands, there is plenty of Greek talent on show. Manolis took us through an extensive tasting of Greek wines, most of which we had never tried before. With lovely charcuterie and Manolis’ company, we had no need for any dinner that evening!

Over our two weeks stay we had an array of different menus, all included in the inclusive trip. We were never bored of the food and loved every meal. At lunch there were plenty of salads and grilled food, and a poolside bar with ice cold beer from keg and well stocked with an excellent selection of spirits, including local gins, liqueurs and some very good Scotch.

The pool, which is big enough for adults to swim and children to play, is surrounded by relaxed seating on grass making it a perfect place to unwind in the sun. Within the hotel there is a very good Spa, with lots of different treatments placed within the hotel - the massages we elected for were very good, and we’ll certainly be going back this time. If you’re wanting to venture a little further from the hotel, the nearest beach is a stone’s throw away, and there are plenty of other beaches close by.

Our room was very spacious and kept immaculately clean during our stay. A good-sized balcony which was sunlit for the whole day was another place to relax and have evening drinks before dinner.

From entering to leaving, we had a very enjoyable time at the Cretan Dream, and we are very pleased they had space when we booked again this year. Beyond visiting our friends at their restaurants, Salis and Miami in Chana and their winery, the Manousakis Winery, we didn’t leave the hotel much as we had everything we needed to relax after a busy year right there.

If you’d like to learn more about the Manousakis Winery and their products we have a lovely article all about one of their spirits here

Words by Colin Hampden-White
(No payment or partnership was involved in this article)

Tsikoudia: A Cretan Hidden Gem

Here at The Three Drinkers, we get inundated with new products and increasingly these products are very good, which makes it difficult to know when to really shout about something. Occasionally something comes along which is truly outstanding, different and of such excellent quality It needs to be noted. I am partial to a good grappa, a lot of grappa simply tastes of alcohol and not the grapes it’s made from, luckily there are exceptions. The drink I want to talk about is close to the grappa family, although few people will have heard of it. It is like a Raki, but it comes from Crete and is called Tsikoudia, pronounced “tzikoodia”. Within the Tsikoudia family there are also varying qualities of spirit, but there is one which shines above the rest.

What is Tsikoudia and how is it made?

Coming from the famous Manousakis winery in Vatolakkos in Crete, planted in 1993 by Ted Manousakis, are some of the best wines in Greece. The winery produces many different varieties of wine, both white and red, and I’ll write further about them soon. One of the varieties they produce is Roussanne, grown on schist and sandy clay soils which creates a rich, creamy white wine. The marc, or pumice from the grapes (more commonly known as the mash), is placed in large plastic containers for forty days to ferment and the resulting mash is then given a single distillation in copper stills. Like most spirits, the materials used to create it are incredibly important, so the use of high quality Roussanne grapes which have lots of flavour make an excellent spirit.

What does Tsikoudia taste like?

There is a very fine cut so the spirit can be reduced to 37.5% making it a very easy to drink spirit which has lots of fruity esters giving flavours of green apples, touches of lime and of course, lots of rich and intense grape flavours. There is no acetic flavour at all which can be associated with poor grappa. Tsikoudia only needs a single distillation, much like Armagnac as the fermented mash is at a higher percentage alcohol than a spirit like whisky where the wash going into the first distillation is only 8% or 9%.

How do you drink Tsikoudia?

My favourite way of drinking it is at room temperature in sunny weather, but it’s also good over ice or directly from the freezer and it can also be good with bitter lemon for a long drink. Tsikoudia is very flexible as it is both an aperitif and digestif.

Which Tsikoudia should I try?

Manousakis Tsikoudia

Size: 500ml
ABV: 37.5%
Find here: £32

If you enjoyed this, make sure you head over to our spirits page for more delicious recommendations!

Words by Colin Hampden-White