Greece: Medieval history

In the medieval Greece that was part of the Byzantine empire, wine was grown by private individuals and by monasteries (see monks and monasteries). Monasteries were foremost among the great landowners because, as in western Europe, they received donations and bequests from the laity. In the 8th and 9th centuries, agriculture was exceptionally profitable; its chief products were wine and fruits and also cotton and medicinal herbs. As in antiquity, the best wines came from the aegean islands, Khíos first of all, and Thásos and Crete. The wines of thrace and anatolia (Cappadocia in particular) were ranked second to these. Evidence from shipwrecks shows that wine was still transported in amphorae in the 7th century, whereas wooden barrels were commonly used in western Europe from the 3rd century ad. After the 7th century, the Greeks, too, started using wooden casks, which are lighter and easier to handle than amphorae.