Vines of Candia in Crete set the stage for the development of Madeira wines.
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| Candy, as the anglo-saxon lands would call them, or Candia Malvasia was a wine that the city of Candia in Crete had great success selling during Venetian times. |
The vines planted
there would eventually be the first of four main varieties that would
find its descendants flourish and evolve on the yet undiscovered and uninhabited
island of Madeira.
During the 13th century Venice had been dominating the commerce of the Mediterranean, including the wine trade. Noticably, England and other Northern European countries of the time participated vigorously in trade for this much sought after commodity. The market was very strong for the sweet taste of this excellent variety of wine. Unfortunately, there are not many records showing the outward expansion of the seed of the Candia to other regions of post middle-ages Europe, except to say that as the merchants of Venice and Genoa spread their operations across Europe they took with them their resources and assets that would develop their interests further.
