Metaxa
Encyclopedia
Metaxa is a Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 distilled spirit
Distilled beverage
A distilled beverage, liquor, or spirit is an alcoholic beverage containing ethanol that is produced by distilling ethanol produced by means of fermenting grain, fruit, or vegetables...

 invented by Spyros Metaxas in 1888. It is a blend of brandy
Brandy
Brandy is a spirit produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35%–60% alcohol by volume and is typically taken as an after-dinner drink...

 and wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

 made from sun-dried Savatiano
Savatiano
Savatiano is a white Greek wine grape used primarily in the wine Retsina. It is one of Greece's most widely planted grape varieties and is known for its resistance to drought condition. It is mostly planted throughout central Greece, particularly in Attica near Athens...

, Sultana
Sultana (grape)
The sultana is a type of white, seedless grape assumed to originate from the Turkish, Greek, or Iranian area...

 and Black Corinth grape
Grape
A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...

 varieties. It is then blended with an aged Muscat wine from the Greek islands of Samos
Samos Island
Samos is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of Asia Minor, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a separate regional unit of the North Aegean region, and the only municipality of the regional...

 and Lemnos
Lemnos
Lemnos is an island of Greece in the northern part of the Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos peripheral unit, which is part of the North Aegean Periphery. The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Myrina...

. It is exported to over 60 countries.

Production

The first production of the distillates begins with the distillation
Distillation
Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in volatilities of components in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....

 of various wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

 varieties (mainly Savatiano
Savatiano
Savatiano is a white Greek wine grape used primarily in the wine Retsina. It is one of Greece's most widely planted grape varieties and is known for its resistance to drought condition. It is mostly planted throughout central Greece, particularly in Attica near Athens...

 and Rhoditis
Rhoditis
Rhoditis is a pink-skinned Greek wine grape traditionally grown in the Peloponnese region of Greece. The grape was highly valued in the Greek wine industry prior to the phylloxera outbreak due to its ability to ripen late and maintain its acidity in hot climates like those of Peloponnese and...

) that after a double distillation are kept in cellars in relatively small, brand new, oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...

, of the limousine type barrel
Barrel
A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container, traditionally made of vertical wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. Traditionally, the barrel was a standard size of measure referring to a set capacity or weight of a given commodity. A small barrel is called a keg.For example, a...

s of 300–350 L usually made in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. French barrels are considered more desirable than those made in America due to the fact that the species of French Oak used in barrel production have smaller pores than its American counterpart. These small pores slow down the transfer of flavor between the barrel and the liquor contained within it, resulting in a more subtle, refined finished product. Some of the distillates are moved in large barrels of 3 cubic meter volume to mature further and used for the main body of the blend. It will mature anywhere from three (the three star Metaxa) to 30 years for the Grand Reserve.

The mean time wine is being prepared for the Alexandrian and Samian Moschatto from the area of Samos
Samoš
Samoš is a village in Serbia. It is situated in the Kovačica municipality, in the South Banat District, Vojvodina province. The village has a Serb ethnic majority and its population numbering 1,247 people .-See also:...

, Limnos and Patras
Patras
Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...

. The wine is maturing for nearly two years in used metaxa barrels. It turns to a deep caramel color with very rich aromas, from the moschatto with dominant the aromas of dried fruits, lavender, white rose
Rose
A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...

s and hints of various spices. Its flavour is rich and sweet.

The third part of the process is the most top guarded secret of the company and only a few people know the process and the precise recipe. A mixture of various spices and distilled water is prepared. To the base, the rose petals, spices and other herbal flavourings are added. The final product has a very complex and unique aromatic character that has aromas of roses, pepper
Black pepper
Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed...

, bay leaf
Bay leaf
Bay leaf refers to the aromatic leaf of the bay laurel . Fresh or dried bay leaves are used in cooking for their distinctive flavor and fragrance. The leaves are often used to flavor soups, stews, braises and pâtés in Mediterranean cuisine...

, cinnamon
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods...

 and nutmeg
Nutmeg
The nutmeg tree is any of several species of trees in genus Myristica. The most important commercial species is Myristica fragrans, an evergreen tree indigenous to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas of Indonesia...

. This mixture is allowed to "marry" for at least six months, then chilled at -6°C for 48 hours, filtered, before being bottled.

Those three blends are mixed at the final blending in such a way that the quality, taste, colour and aromas of the brandy are kept as constant as possible. Final steps involve the correction of the colour and the balancing of the alcohol levels. Most of them are mixed with young Moschatto wine to mellow the flavour.

Types of Metaxa

Metaxa comes in five major varieties: Three Stars, Five Stars, Seven Stars, Twelve Stars and the Grand Reserve. The number of stars represents the number of years the blend is matured. The three and 5 star are not as different, but the 5 star is notably drier, making the alcohol more pronounced. The seven and twelve star are more flavoursome and complex, while the twelve is again more dry, in this case because there is no addition of wine. In either of the two latter varieties, the smell and taste of the barrel in which the brandy matured is noticeable. The Grand Reserve is the most expensive and difficult to find.

The Twelve-Star version is now distributed internationally. Additional varieties and collectors' items, such as the Grand Olympian Reserve Celebration Edition, are available only in some regions.

Metaxa is traditionally served neat
Straight up (bartending)
In bartending, the term straight up refers to an alcoholic drink that is shaken or stirred with ice and then strained and served without ice in a stemmed glass....

, on the rocks
Ice cube
Ice cubes are small, roughly cube-shaped pieces of ice, conventionally used to cool beverages. Ice cubes are often preferred over crushed ice because they melt more slowly; they are standard in mixed drinks that call for ice, in which case the drink is said to be "on the rocks."Ice cubes are...

, or mixed (usually with sours).

History of Metaxa

The founder of the distillery was Spyros Metaxas, born in the island of Kefalonia
Kefalonia
The island of Cephalonia, also known as Kefalonia, Cephallenia, Cephallonia, Kefallinia, or Kefallonia , is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece, with an area of . It is also a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region, and the only municipality of the regional unit...

. He created the first brandy and was involved in the foundation of the first distillation facility in 1888, a little over 50 years after the Greek War of Independence
Greek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...

. The business was soon expanded with new factories in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

 and Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...

. In 1900 the first exports to the United States took place and the drink became known as "the flying brandy". Following Metaxas' death, his sons carried on his work. Metaxa is the only Greek industry that survived the two World Wars. In 1968 the factory was rebuilt and, although it consists of state-of-the-art equipment, its output tastes the same as from the traditional method.

The label shows a Salaminomaho (Salamina
Salamina
The word Salamina may refer to* Salamis Island an Island in Greece* Salamina a town and municipality in Piraeus Prefecture in Greece* Salamina a town and municipality in the Caldas Department in Colombia...

 fighter), a figure of an Ancient Greek trireme
Trireme
A trireme was a type of galley, a Hellenistic-era warship that was used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean, especially the Phoenicians, ancient Greeks and Romans.The trireme derives its name from its three rows of oars on each side, manned with one man per oar...

 that was carved on a coin of that period, found during the excavation of the first factory in 1888.

Metaxa won over the toughest critics and has earned a respected position in the pantheon of fine spirits. In 1989 the company was bought by the British drinks group Grand Metropolitan
Grand Metropolitan
Grand Metropolitan plc is a former United Kingdom-based company operating hotels, holiday centres, entertainment centres, public houses and casinos...

 (now re branded as Diageo
Diageo
Diageo plc is a global alcoholic beverages company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest producer of spirits and a major producer of beer and wine....

) and was later sold to the Remy Cointreau
Rémy Cointreau
Rémy Cointreau is a French alcohol manufacturer that produces cognac, liqueurs, spirits and champagne. The company is a result of a 1990-1991 merger between Rémy Martin and Cointreau.- Brands :...

group.

External links

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