Toplou Monastery
The monastery has always been making wine for the needs of the church for social and religious purposes, and the poor dry and windy areas around the monastery are ideal for grapevine growing. As a result, the abbot Filotheos Spanoudakis restored and put into value the old vines of the monastery in the nineties.
The philosophy of the vines management is always respecting the environment and aims into the production of pure, healthy products. On this philosophy the whole production process is based, up to the merest detail: The land and its preparation, the choice of the plots that were planted, the organic farming that is controled and certified by well known certification schemes, the choice of the varieties that was done based on the specific caracteristics of each area, the microclimate, the soil and its humidity for each grapevine separately – everything was carefully studied.
On the years that the grapes are of exceptional quality, we can produce sweet wine. The grapes are layed down under the sun, so that most of the water of the berry is evaporated and thus the concentration of every constituent of the berry is concentrated. The grapes are then taken to the monastery to be fermented. The yast do not manage to ferment all the sugars because of the big amounts of alcohol produced and concequently the wine remains sweet.
The wines of the monastery are already popular, but we are always making an effort to improve the quality. By reducind the yields of the vines and constantly improoving the techniques of winemaking, we try for even more fine wines for the most demanding wine tasters!
A fully guided wine tour, viewing vineyards, the museum,the production area and visiting the tasting room. Live the experience of meeting the aromas of the Cretan land, by tasting our different wines, our traditional tsikoudia and our famous extra virgin olive oil, all of organic farming and enjoy a light plate of local meze (graviera and rusks)
It is a modernized winery, established in the prefecture of Lassithi, with great winegrowing and winemaking experience. Located 10 minutes drive west of Sitia town and also 10 minutes drive south of the ancient city of ‘Itanos’ or ‘Ermoupoli’ and the palm forest of ‘Vai’.
In our facilities we provide :
Guide tour in Greek and English language, starting with vineyards, the museum, continuing to the winemaking area, and finishing with the tasting room, which is characterized by stone and wood, in perfect harmony with the local natural beauty. There you can taste our wines, with the accompaniment of traditional delicacies (eg. graviera cheese and rusks).
Also integrated, organic farming of vineyards, in order to create wines from organic grapes, that highlights the particularities of their variety. In conjunction with the climatic conditions, they offer delightful, unique aromas and flavors. Consequently we offer products of exceptional quality like wine, “karmely” drink, tsikoudia, and olive oil. There is the option of paying with credit card.
Access to sightseeing and visit to the Toplou Monastery, where we find hagiographies and icons that represent the development of Byzantine iconography with great artistic value over time. There is a museum with rare items and library with historical and religious books, etc.
Access to the internet.
Full bus accessibility.
From April to October
Daily 10:30 to 17:00
