Santorini is a wine Name of Origin and its wines are distinct and unique. The volcanic eruptions over hundreds of thousands of years have endowed the island with a porous surface of unique appearance and morphology. Santorini's vines are different than anywhere else due to the unique way they are raised, in a design reminiscent of a woven basket. This is an art that the local growers have perfected through the centuries to deal with the unusual prevailing weather conditions. Due to the size of the island and the weather conditions (windy, sunny, and dry throughout the year), local wineries produce only limited quantities (about 300-500 kilograms per 1,000 square meters of land) of very distinctive wines, with strong dry mouths. Most of the wineries are located in Megalochori. The major indigenous grape is the "asyrtico" variety, but the "athiri" and "aidani" varieties are also used for the production of great dry whites and the renown "vinsanto" ("holy wine") sweet white. Vinsanto is produced from the asyrtiko, athiri and aidani varieties. The grapes are left to dry under the sun for 10-15 days and then are fermented for 3-4 months. The most important local wineries are: Boutaris is the top winery in Greece, with vineyards in Attica, in the Peloponese, and in Northern Greece. In Santorini, they maintain a large vineyard past Acrotiri, in the south of the island, Selladia Estate. The company opened its Santorini winery to the public, for tours and wine tasting, in 1988 (Megalochori, 847 00, Santorini. Tel. 22860 81011, Fax 22860 81606, email: pr@boutari.gr, www.boutaris.gr). The Gavalas winery has been around for more than 100 years, and is also headquartered in Megalochori (Megalochori, 847 00 Santorini, Tel. 22860 82552, 210 571 1978, Fax 22860 22860 82552, info@gavalaswines.gr, www.gavalaswines.gr). The Antoniou winery is also in Megalochori and offers wine tasting tours (Megalochori, 847 00, Santorini. Tel. 22860 23557). Other wineries include the Koutsogianopoulos winery, which has been run by the family of the same name since 1870, the Hatzidakis winery, which has been growing local grape varieties organically since 1997, and the Sigalas winery, near Ia. |
