A must for wine-minded visitors to this unusually green Greek island.
I really thought that one article on Corfu would be sufficient. But then while we were there I realised, firstly, how popular this island is, especially with British visitors; secondly, how it has become a magnet for the wealthy and therefore for a growing number of food and wine lovers; and finally, how the number of restaurants catering for these customers has grown.
Our timing, the last week of May, was also propitious. June sees the arrival of even more visitors, a continual stream from all over the world in a torrent that continues until early November. (November, incidentally, is the best month to visit the island according to Corfiot winemaker Panagiotis Grammenos).
But I would be remiss if I were not to include my thoughts on the enormously pleasurable evening we spent at The Venetian Well, an extraordinary restaurant with an extraordinary wine list located in a small, almost hidden square in Corfu Town. Writing this back in noisy London I have to pinch myself to prove that I did in fact experience it all, but the elegantly typed menu and list of wines chosen for us by my side as I write this provide concrete proof.
The restaurant is the creation of restaurateur Yannis Vlachos, although a great deal of its charm is related to its location. Kremasti Square, up a short but steep incline, is quiet and beautiful. In its centre is the well that gives the restaurant its name, constructed and donated to the city in 1699 by a wealthy Venetian (and just visible in the bottom left-hand corner of the main image above). Opposite the restaurant is a deconsecrated nunnery without electricity which is especially beautiful when candlelit but looks rather wonderful outside by night, as you can see at the top of this article. With narrow alleyways leading off in several directions, the square would make a terrific film set. In fact the setting is positively operatic.
The restaurant is a shuttered, two-storey building, its upper floor as yet unoccupied. The tables outside under the bougainvillea are covered in what I imagine must be Venetian lace tablecloths. The lit windows reveal a smart, characterful interior with the kitchen off to the left. The whole setting is utterly charming and seductive.
The building has long attracted Vlachos. ‘As a young boy I used to gaze up at this very old building which to me was a magical place. When it was first converted from a house to a restaurant, I believed then it would be an amazing, almost secret location for a restaurant. I decided right then and there that when the opportunity came, I would buy it. That opportunity arrived in 2012 and after 20 months of repair, we opened in December 2014’, he explained.
Until 2022 Vlachos was not only the owner and the wine buyer but also the chef, having trained at the Grecotel Corfu Imperial, but he has since handed over the kitchen responsibilities to the obviously talented Spyros Agious, a fellow Corfiot. The wines were served to us by Nikolaos Kousinidis, pictured below and currently tackling the WSET Level 3 course, and Vlachos’s right-hand man, with responsibilities for the exceptional cellar and wine hospitality. He and a team of white-jacketed waiters constitute a terrific front-of-house team.
We were seated at a table outside. A set menu of five courses was handed to us as our waiter asked us how we liked an additional course, a fillet of beef, cooked. We immediately declined as the five courses looked more than ample. Our appetites were quickly stimulated – as if the square and the location were not enough – by a glass of Pierre Péters, Cuvée de Réserve Blanc de Blancs Champagne and a small bowl of spinach soup, described as a ‘welcome soup’.
What unites the four savoury dishes and makes the meal memorable is Agious’s handling of the spices that are an integral part of Corfiot cooking. It is easy to forget that for over 400 years, from the end of the 15th century, Corfu was Venetian during a period when the Venetians controlled the highly profitable spice trade with the East. (See Roger Crowley’s recently published book Spice from Yale University Press.) There was a kumquat (everywhere on Corfu) kosho (chilli) with the bonito loin in a mustard sauce (see below); Japanese furikake on tortellini stuffed with braised rooster; and a Corfiot bourdeto sauce of onions and red, sweet and hot peppers, the traditional sauce of the island to accompany fish, here a fillet of grouper. Dessert introduced me to a namelaka, a cream made without eggs or flour, enhanced with several textures of strawberry. Each course was served with warmth, professionalism and a good sense of pacing – something that can be difficult to achieve with a tasting menu in a busy restaurant.
We’d hosted Grammenos at Fishalida’s Garden and he insisted on hosting us, with his wife Joanna, here. We did not meet Vlachos, who I imagine chose and donated all the wines, until the meal was halfway through. All we saw until then was the smiling Kousinidis, who kept arriving at our table with a succession of enticing bottles of still wine. The first was a retsina but not as I remember it. This was the exceptional, long-aged Tear of the Pine 2015, a retsina based on Assyrtiko grapes from the Kechris family near Thessaloniki. Tasted and rated highly by Julia when it was only two years old, it is now even more complex, distinctive and satisfying. This was followed by another stunning Assyrtiko, Gavalas’s 2018 Enalia bottling from ancient Santorini vines. Again, Julia had got there before us, 2022, with this tasting note, and the wine had aged beautifully.
Then an old favourite, Batàr 2012 from Querciabella, clearly visible in the picture above of Kousinidis (from one of Vlachos’s favourite producers, he disclosed), before two fabulous reds and the chance to examine the hypothesis that Xinomavro is reminiscent of Nebbiolo. The Greek red was Kir-Yianni’s Ramnista Le Bicentenaire 2011, a special bottling from a great vintage to celebrate the bicentenary of the Greek revolution of 1821 and released only in 2021 – a wine even Greek goddess Julia had not tasted! It really was very special indeed: beautifully balanced and similar in structure to the delicious Giuseppe Mascarello, Monprivato 2013 Barolo but with a bit more body. Then, to round off a sensational evening, a glass apiece of Ch d’Yquem from the relatively refreshing vintage 2009.
Then it was time to visit the cellar. We said goodbye and thanked the waiting staff and joined Kousinidis and Vlachos as they led us back and under the restaurant to a cellar protected by a large bolt and key.
As we entered the smiles on the faces of our Greek hosts seemed to get bigger and bigger. Past a whole section devoted to Greece; past open wooden boxes of mature wines from Bordeaux including Cheval Blanc and Lafleur; another wall, this time devoted to Champagne; before whole sections devoted to Burgundy, to Italy and to Germany. How had all this come about and how does Vlachos fit in visiting so many vineyards with looking after the customers in his restaurant, I wanted to know?
‘I started really in 2013, all around Greece and then the vineyards of Europe. I have many favourite wineries, some may say too many, but I love Château de Beaucastel, the wines of Henri Giraud, of Querciabella, of Rinaldi, of Olivier Leflaive and the wines of David Duband in Chevannes. Since 2018 we are constantly adding more wines from the best vintages.
‘The Venetian Well is more than just a restaurant for us. It’s a story. It is a vision of me and my wife Irene, made with a lot of love, passion and care in every detail with the aim that every visitor can feel the magic that inspired us.'
I can only hope that that vision will thrive and prosper – at least until our next visit to Corfu.
The Venetian Well 1 Lilli Dessyla Square, Corfu Old Town, Corfu 49100; tel: +30 266 155 0955
Every Sunday, Nick writes about restaurants. To stay abreast of his reviews, sign up for our weekly newsletter.