Metaxa

Metaxa (Μεταξά) is a line of branded Greek alcoholic drinks, each a flavored amber blend of spirits and Muscat wine, aged in oak barrels, and packaged in amphora-shaped bottles. Several Metaxa products have numbered “star” designations indicating, according to different sources, either the product’s age, the number of base spirits and wines used in making it, or simply the quality level (itself a reflection of the age). Metaxa's main exported products are 5 Star, 7 Star, 12 Star, and Private Reserve. (Metaxa 3 Star is not exported.)

Created in 1888 and labeled first as a Cognac and then as a brandy until prohibited by naming regulations, the maker remained in private hands until sold in 1989 to Grand Metropolitan, which in turn sold it in 2000 to Rémy Cointreau.

History
The company's founder, Spyros Metaxa, was born in 1848 into a family of Greek silk merchants. Exposed during his travels to spirits and wines from around the world, he created Metaxa in 1888, when he owned a tavern. The "Salamina Warrior", the Metaxa emblem, is inspired by an ancient medallion that Spyros Metaxa found when building his distillery in Piraeus in 1888. In 1968, the distillery and the Metaxa cellars were relocated to new facilities in Athens's northern suburb of Kifissia.

Production
On Samos, an island in the eastern Aegean Sea, grapes, primarily Muscat, a variety originally from Greece, are cultivated in terraces and hand-picked. Metaxa uses sweet Muscat wines sourced from the island, which are aged several years and so somewhat oxidized. The maker used to buy wine from independent vintners but has begun making its own, from fruit grown in its own vineyards. Its base brandies come mostly (80%) from Spain and Italy, and the rest from Greece, where they are distilled from sun-dried grapes. These ingredients are aged separately and then combined in Limousin oak casks. Mediterranean botanicals are added as part of the finishing process, including May rose, also a component of Chanel No. 5 perfume. The result is aged for at least two years but in some cases decades.

The company's current Metaxa master, the equivalent of a master distiller or master blender, Constantinos Raptis, is the fifth since 1888. He has overseen the production process for more than 25 years.