The island (also known as Lesvos) in the northern Aegean is the third largest in Greece at 2,135 square kilometres. In 600 BC, the lyricists Sappho (after whom same-sex love between women is named as Sapphism) and Alcaeus, who wrote many drinking songs and probably the most famous saying about wine, lived here at the same time: In vino veritas (there is truth in wine). Charaxos - Sappho's brother - sailed as a merchant with a shipload of wine to Naukratis in Egypt. The philosopher and botanist Theophrastos (370-287 BC), who wrote about viticulture, was also born here. The island of Lesbos is best known for its olives, with over 13 million olive trees. Wine is also produced, but there are no appellations classified as POP (Prostatevomenis Onomasías Proelefsis).
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Thorsten Rahn
Restaurantleiter, Sommelier, Weindozent und Autor; Dresden