Blog: The Oldest Wine Press in the World Is Right Here in Crete
Long before French vineyards, Italian cellars, or any of the wine regions we associate with today’s industry, the Minoans of Crete were already pressing grapes into wine using equipment that archaeologists still study today. On the eastern slopes of Mount Giouktas, just south of the village of Archanes, lies Vathypetro — home to one of the oldest wine presses ever discovered, still standing in the exact spot where it was built roughly 3,600 years ago.
A Minoan Estate Frozen in Time
Vathypetro was excavated in 1949 by Greek archaeologist Spyridon Marinatos, and what he uncovered was more than just a farmhouse. The complex, built around 1600 BC, functioned like a small palace: multiple buildings, courtyards, storage rooms lined with large clay jars, a pottery workshop, and even a kiln. Some researchers believe its earliest phase may have served a ceremonial or administrative role, tied to the grand Minoan road connecting Knossos to the fertile Messara Plain to the south.
An earthquake damaged the site around 1550 BC, and the southern wing — the part that housed the wine press — was rebuilt afterward as a working farmhouse and production center. That’s the section that still survives today, giving visitors a rare, direct look at Minoan agricultural life rather than palace grandeur.
How the Press Actually Worked
The wine press itself is refreshingly simple: a shallow clay basin where grapes were trodden by foot, connected by a channel to a lower collection vat where the juice gathered before fermentation. It’s a design so functional that similar gravity-fed systems were still used in traditional Cretan villages centuries later. Right alongside it, archaeologists also found an olive press, underlining just how central both wine and olive oil were to daily life in Minoan Crete, exactly as they remain today.
Why It Matters
Vathypetro isn’t just old — it’s one of the earliest physical proofs we have that organized winemaking existed in the Aegean world. While plenty of sites claim ancient wine-related finds, few preserve an actual in-situ press from the Bronze Age. Standing next to it, it’s hard not to feel the weight of just how long Crete has been producing wine: nearly 3,600 years of unbroken tradition, from Minoan farmhands to today’s local vineyards still growing grapes on the very same hillsides.
See It From a Land Rover
You don’t need a history degree to appreciate Vathypetro — you just need to take the right route. On our Tripiti Route safari, we begin at Mount Giouktas, the mountain mythology names as the resting place of Zeus himself, before driving through the very vineyards where the Minoans built this ancient wine press. From there, the day continues into mountain villages, down to the dramatic Tripiti Gorge, and finishes with lunch and a swim by the Libyan Sea — a single day that carries you from Bronze Age winemaking to modern Cretan coastline.
Few places on Earth let you stand this close to the roots of an entire industry. In Crete, it’s just one stop on the way to lunch.
Ready to see it yourself? Book your Tripiti Route safari and drive past 3,600 years of winemaking history on your way to the coast.
