Douloufakis Winery, Dafnes, Crete

Douloufakis Winery traces its roots back to 1930, when Dimitris Douloufakis established a professional winery in the village of Dafnes, south of Heraklion. Today, the estate is led by his grandson Nikos Douloufakis, who trained in oenology at Alba in Italy before returning to Crete to refine and modernise the family’s approach to winemaking.

The estate’s vineyards lie on hilly slopes around Dafnes at approximately 350 metres above sea level, covering around 10ha and planted predominantly with indigenous Cretan varieties. Vidiano and Liatiko form the backbone of the range, complemented by smaller plantings of Kotsifali, Vilana, Mandilari, and international varieties. Alongside estate fruit, Douloufakis works closely with local growers farming vineyards in the same area.

Nikos Douloufakis is credited with bringing one of the most promising Greek varieties — Vidiano — to the world's attention, and the single-vineyard 'Aspros Lagos' Vidiano is one of the reference wines for the variety. He is continuing this tradition by resurrecting the Tachtas variety, which had almost disappeared entirely, while, from the reds, the PDO Dafnes Liatiko exemplifies the ripe fruit and spice of this Cretan variety.