Santorini
Hot, dry, windy Mediterranean
A volcanic Aegean island whose ancient, ungrafted vines, woven into baskets, make dry, mineral Assyrtiko and sweet Vinsanto.
Overview
About Santorini
Santorini is the remnant of a volcano that erupted in the Bronze Age, and its soils are pumice, ash and lava. They hold no organic matter, and phylloxera has never been able to take hold, so many vines are ungrafted and very old.
The vines are trained into low baskets, called kouloura, that protect the grapes from the strong winds and sun. Assyrtiko, the main grape, gives dry whites with high acidity and a saline, mineral taste, and Vinsanto is a sweet wine from sun-dried grapes.
Santorini is marked on the map.
Greece
Shaded: Notio Aigaio. Map units are states, provinces or départements, so a smaller place appears as the larger area that contains it.
The land
Climate & terroir
Climate
Hot, dry, windy Mediterranean
Very little rain, strong sun and constant winds. Sea mist and dew provide much of the water the vines receive.
Terroir & soils
What the vines grow in
Volcanic pumice, ash and lava on the caldera slopes, with little water or organic matter.
Go deeper
Rules, years & producers
Sigalas
Oia; a leading estate for Assyrtiko and Vinsanto.
Hatzidakis
Pyrgos; organic Assyrtiko from very old vines.
Gaia
Pyrgos; Santorini's Thalassitis Assyrtiko, from a winery also active in Nemea.
Estate Argyros
Episkopi Gonias; a large family estate with very old vines.
What's grown here
Grapes
Each grape's page links back here.