Our history

The Zoumberakis Family has been, for many decades, writing its oenological (hi)story in Kali Sikia (Rethimno), with the taste of tradition and the fragrances of nature. Today, the winery is “steered” by the third generation of the dedicated winemakers, who remain loyal to the traditional techniques and the meraki (the burning love for what they do that drives them to strive for perfection) of their ancestors, constantly and continuously enriching the family know-how with cutting-edge winemaking methods.

Although the Zoumberakis Family has been producing limited quantities of home-made wine for at least 3 generations, the winery essentially entered its own modern era in 1996, with a new philosophy and dynamism in organization and production. It was then that generous investments made it possible to expand the vineyards and to upgrade the winery into an advanced production unit, with the addition of a distillery, ancillary structures, and operational warehousing, aging and storage areas that meet the latest winemaking specifications.

Today, the Zoumberakis Winery operates from facilities with a surface area of 1,000 sq.m. and is a model unit for Crete, with modern infrastructure, cutting-edge machinery and advanced production and bottling facilities. It is audited and certified (in accordance with the ISO 22000 standard) by the company DIO and complies fully with the international food safety standard.

The winery’s aging area has a 250 barrel capacity. Here, time stops for as long as it takes for our wines to acquire their unique flavor and intoxicating aromas. Aging takes place in oak barrels, under humidity and temperature conditions that are controlled 24/7 by the most advanced machinery. If you visit our winery, we will be proud to show you our traditional raki still, where we produce our unique raki, making the best use of the family’s secrets and meraki.

As far as the Zoumberakis Family is concerned,there is no end to progress. We are in the process of expanding the winery’s facilities by adding larger storage areas, while our plans for the very near future include moving the distillery - liqueur production unit to even larger facilities, which will allow us to increase production.

The Zoumberakis Winery makes Kali Sikia a more fragrant place and is the meeting point for anyone who loves and is grateful to Crete and its nature for the unique products it so generously gifts us. We will be happy to show you around our special place, where yesterday and today mesh harmoniously, filling our lives with flavor and joy. Abandon all stress all you who enter here: here we measure time in values and quality in moments of dedication!