Santorini-born Paris Sigalas is one such winery owner, having accumulated more than 50 hectares over the years. For many years Sigalas had a close relationship with a grower in the village of Imerovigli, who was renown for the great care he took tending his vines. Known as Kavaliero, the grower often was seen walking through his vineyard, almost lovingly tending his basket vines growing on top of the volcanic soil.

When he passed away a few years ago, Kavaliero left specific instructions that his vineyard be sold to Sigalas so it would not be divided or, worse, used for touristic development. Sigalas bought grapes from the Kavaliero vineyard for years to make his flagship Sigalas Santorini wine and after he took over ownership of the vineyard, he decided to honor this special place with a single vineyard release, Sigalas Kavaliero. It was first released in 2009.

The label artwork represents the old owner walking hunched over through his vineyard, and in a clever twist, the logo, when turned upside down, is the a visage, famous in Cycladic sculptures.

The Kavaliero vineyard experiences cooler temperatures than many parts of the island and the grapes are picked more than two weeks after most other vineyards. The extended maturity gives wine a rich mouth feel with hints of tropical fruit, including pineapple. The 2010 release should be available soon. This year’s vintage will be held for one year of aging before release. If you happen to spot a bottle of this very limited release it would be a rare find, indeed.

AS THE LARGEST PRODUCER

Near the end of harvest, the grapes will dry in the sun for seven to 10 days, spread as far as the eye can see on patches of land overlooking the cliffs. Their days in the sun concentrates their sweet juices to make Vinsanto.

With its panoramic view of the west-side caldera, Santo’s tasting room is a must-see on anyone’s island itinerary—whether they drink wine or not. More than 100,000 guests a year visit the winery and its shop, which features the island’s bounty: wine, artisanal food items from products grown on Santorini, such as cherry tomatoes, capers, caper leaves, and fava beans.

Sipping a glass of luscious Vinsanto at the end of the day as the sun goes down is a favorite pastime for visitors and one of the more memorable moments during a visit to this idyllic island.

Korinne Munson, who is working with Wines from Santorini, went to Santorini to work the 2011 harvest this past August and  shares her experiences with us.

The Vinsanto harvest comes to a sweet end at the Gavalas Winery. The Assyrtiko grapes destined for Vinsanto, the traditional sweet wine of Santorini, are the last to be picked. These bunches are left on the vine until the end of harvest to soak up the sun and ripen to a golden sweetness. Once they are harvested by hand, the grapes are then spread out on mats to spend between 7-10 days drying in the sun, to further concentrate their luscious juice.

When it’s time to press the grapes most wineries now use mechanical presses, but the Gavalas family is the last commercial winery on the island to still press Vinsanto the traditional way—by foot. This year the 4th and 5th generations of the family met at the winery to continue the tradition by pressing the grapes with their feet. Because they want to keep this process alive and share this unique experience, they welcome visitors at the winery to literally “step in” and help.

The sun-dried grapes are spread out in the original winery foot-pressing vat, and the rich juice flows by gravity through a basket that acts as a filter and into tanks below ground. The grapes are pressed four times. After each pressing, they are swept into a corner of the vat and left to sit for a few hours, then spread out and thoroughly stepped on again to make sure that all of the precious juice is extracted.

After our hard work, winemaker George Gavalas measured the sugar level of the juice and when it got his seal of approval, he shared it with us. The juice is then put into old oak barrels for fermentation and aging.

WINE & SPIRITS CONSULTANT

Wines from Santorini hosted a contingent of guests on a trip in June/July and we came away with some interesting perspectives to add to the incredible vistas.  Attending the trip was Christie Dufault, an educator at Napa’s Culinary Institute of America and a sommelier at San Francisco’s RN47 restaurant; Jordan Mackay, author of “Secrets of the Sommeliers,” Gregory Dal Piaz editor in chief of Snooth; Alder Yarrow of vinography.com; and Jon Troutman from Gary Vaynerchuk’s the Daily Grape.

Santorini’s novel name games were not lost on the group. Mackay noted, “There’s just no way to shorten the name of Assyrtiko in my notes.  Three letters don’t work and a fourth isn’t much better, so you might as well go with the whole name.”

And at Karamolegos Winery, Yarrow commented “it may be an American perspective, but how cool is it to have a tasting at a winery run by a guy named Artemis, with wines poured by Antigone.” Here, at one of the family-run wineries on the island, we came away with yet another perspective of the intense minerality of Assyrtiko as well as a bag of some homegrown fava beans.

The group rested from the intense sun under the thatched patio at Canava Roussos, founded in 1836. The scenic winery is popular with tourists but particularly nice is that it’s a working winery. The way they make the wine hasn’t changed much, still using the traditional rooms for grape crushing by foot, wicker baskets for transferring the grapes from the vineyards, and fermenting in barrels of Russian oak over 100 years old are still in use.

At Gaia, Bordeaux-trained Yiannis Paraskevopoulos, professor of oenology at University of Athens, presented wines that are the expression of terroir itself. He takes grapes from vineyards located on the southeastern slopes of Episkopi, composed entirely of 70-80 year old, ungrafted vines with a dramatically low yield. His Thalassitis, derived from “Thalassitis Inos,” or more poetically, sea-originated wine, is the subject of an experiment. Paraskevopoulos has submerged a number of cases to see how the wine ages in an oxygen-free environment. An ardent scuba diver, retrieving the bottles presumably will be no problem for him.

The group visited Hadzidakis, Santorini’s own garagiste. In this case, though, the wine is made in a tiny converted old cave-house outside Pyrgos at 350 meters above the sea, at the altitude limits of growing Assyrtiko. His shed supports a net covered with discarded dried grape stems, serving as a roof.  Hadzidakis, who farms organically, boasts soft soils in his vineyards—the norm in some wine regions, but an anomaly in Santorini’s hardscrabble volcanic turf. His wife and daughter stop by the tasting to drop off some traditional breads and fritters that allow us to really appreciate the qualities of his wines to pair with indigenous food.

We watched the sun set at Sigalas while tasting steel- and barrel-fermented Assyrtikos. It was here that Dal Piaz came up with “spiky” to describe the acidic backbone to the whites that tannins provide in a red wine. Ever the tinkerer, Sigalas is on a mission to unlock the mystery of the potential of Assyrtiko. The winery is full of barrels with permutations of vineyard source, vinification variations, aging differences. All being rested and tested periodically to understand exactly what his land, and his vision, is capable of producing.

George Gavalas let his winemaker, Margarita Karamolegou, make the presentation of their wines to us.  Like many of the winemakers on Santorini, she’s young, trained in oenology at the University of Athens, and immersed in bringing a 3,000-year tradition of island winemaking into an age of modern technology. They produce high quality wines of intensity, austerity and typicity that helped provide a reference for our visit to the island. New to their fold: the Iris label, a series of well-priced “gateway” wines that introduce wine drinkers to the varieties, as well as provide easy drinking at an affordable price.

We had a brief stop at Koutsoyiannopoulos to pick up some wines for our afternoon tasting. The Volcan Wine Museum there is usually a “must see,” but with the affable George Koutsoyiannopoulos not feeling well, sadly our tour was cancelled. The portfolio showed well, however, against a panoply of typical Greek dishes including tomato fritters, classic Greek and Santorini salads, followed by grilled octopus, calamari, and barbecued lamb—which showed off the great strength of Assyrtiko with hearty meats.

Another must see, Estate Argyros, which lies below the village of Pyrgos, is one of the oldest wineries on the island. Now in its fourth generation of ownership with Matthew Argyros at the helm, the winery is producing wines that are consistent award winners. We toured three vineyards demonstrating how the vines are grown—from newly planted Aidani and 10-year-old Assyrtiko to the typical Kouloura basket on very old rootstock.  Here, we had barrel samples of Vinsantos aged from 10 to 30 years old, as well as the newer vintage still wines. Giotta Ioakimoglou says, the wine is more “honest” served less cold, revealing all the characteristics that define it: acidity, structure, freshness, fruits and, most importantly, food-friendliness.

By the time we visited the Boutari winery, we had all become believers of the aging potential of this marvelous grape. So, we were ready for a tasting of young and old vintages of Assyrtiko. Boutari revolutionized the Santorini harvest by moving it from September, the month of the traditional harvest, to August. Boutari also helped make barrel-aged Assyrtiko fashionable again, with its well-done Kallisti and Kallisti Reserve wines.

Our final stop and last sunset of the trip was at SantoWines, the island cooperative and winery with a view. Santo has more than 1000 growers, most with vineyards of less than a hectare. And dispelling the myth of coops, this large producer makes great examples of Assyrtiko. Santo growers also produce traditional products including native cherry tomatoes, fava beans and caper bushes found throughout the island. At our final dinner at Selene Restaurant, owner George Hatziyannakis spread out artisanal cheeses from throughout the Cycladic Islands, perfectly paired with the wines.

At Gavalas, a 300-year-old winery, the big news is the introduction of IRIS, a line of eight wines. Enologist Margarita Karamolegou says she always wanted to make a bold red wine—and now she has: a blend of 80% Mandilaria and 10% Mavrotragano and 10% Voudomato.

IRIS also includes a white and rose, and for the first time, a blend of 50% Assyrtiko and 25% of each Aidani and Athiri. The rose is 90% Assyrtiko and 10% Mandilaria. The experimental production is limited to 2,000 bottles of each.

“It’s also an introduction to Assyrtiko for people who don’t know about acidity,” she said. The gateway wines, priced at 7.5 euros, should attract new wine explorers.

At Canava Roussos, Agape Roussos is exploring new ways to modernize the traditional winery without losing its essence.

“New technology is good as long as it doesn’t take away from what you have,” she told us on a recent visit.  The winery is repairing older portions of the 1836 structure with the help of an architect who’s knowledgeable about Aegean architecture and materials.

The renovation also gave Agape the chance to rethink some of their offerings. Combing old with the new, she’s creating a menu of small tasting plates of regional cheese from the Cyclades and local cured meats—the Greek version of charcuterie that’s all the rage in trendy places.

“We’ll also have board games to give people the idea that a winery is a place where you can come spend time.”

At the top is an interview with Yiannis Paraskevopoulos, who speaks with Wine Spectator on Assyrtiko, the “Champion of Minerality.” You can view the video here.

Also of note: Mark Squires reviews Greek wines in the Wine Advocate (Robert Parker), and gives a special focus to Santorini, which he calls “a small and special wine region.” Of the wines, he says “Pure and steely, they have fine depth and hold up well to food. Santorini’s other signature wine is its fantastic and ageworthy sweet wine called Vinsanto, which is an ancient island trademark copied by many …”

Alder Yarrow who pens the popular blog, Vinography, wrote an extensive roundup of Santorini after his visit here last month. He gave careful review not only to to each winery, but drilled down to the details of scores of wines.  Part I details the island’s unique viticulture and Part II reviews what he tasted.

World Wine Guys Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jenssen are long-time fans and visitors to the island. They write about Santorini’s earthly delights in the “Vino Files” in Wine Enthusiast.

You’ve undoubtedly heard about the Greek austerity plan. Jordan Mackay writes about another kind of austerity—that which is found in our bracing island whites. He calls them “restrained, uncompromisingly charged … the distinctive product of one of the most unusual terroirs in the world …”

Other hits: HuffPo finds something of note in Thei Zervaki‘s post about the elegant minerality of the wines. She gives a call out to Sigalas Santorini 2010, GAIA Thalassitis 2010, Gavalas Santorini 2009, Hadzidakis Nykteri 2009 and the barrel-aged Estate Argyros 2009.

We didn’t escape the notice of lifestyle magazines that recommended Santorini as a great escape. Travel + Leisure named it Best Island (we knew that). And, they’ll be leaving the shores of Naples, Fla., after reading about our summer sippers.

Santorini made an impressive showing

SILVER: Estate Argyros Assyrtiko 2010
Argyros Estate 4 Year Barrel Aged Vin Santo 2006
Gaia Wines Thalassitis 2010
Domaine Sigalas Mavrotragano 2008

BRONZE: Estate Argyros Mavrotragano 2008
Volcan Wines Koutsoyiannopoulos Assyrtiko 2010

REGIONAL (recognizing “best in class”):

Top 10 Sweet Wines, Argyros Estate 20 Year Barrel Aged Vin Santo 1990
Estate Top 10 New Wave (indigenous) grape varieties:
Argyros French Oak Fermented Assyrtiko 2010

WHEN GARY VAYNERCHUK POLLED Facebook friends for the next wine to receive coverage in his new show, The Daily Grape, Wines of Santorini friends sprung into action. They crushed the competition, beating out California Pinot Noirs, Riesling or a vertical tasting of a TBD variety.

Garnering 188 votes‚ more than 50 percent of those cast, Assyrtiko took its rightful place in Episode #28. “Gary Vee” said the wine has tremendous potential to be a world player, with great pedigrees and the scores to match.

What he tasted: 2010 Gaia Estate Assyrtiko Wild Ferment and 2009 Argyros Assyrtiko

OUR APRIL NEWSLETTER, released today, recapped our successful Santorini wine event in New York City last month. Several media outlets picked up on it: New Jersey Star Ledger columnist John Foy pegged 2010 Argyros Assyrtiko as but one wine that “speaks to the sea.” NY Wine Salon‘s Cynthia Sin Yi Cheng, loved Domaine Sigalas 2009 Asirtiko-Athiri. In Food Republic, the new man-friendly mag of celeb chef Marcus Samuelsson, wine editor Lisa McLaughlin says the wines’ “duality also opens them up to unusual food pairings.” We also heard man-about-town Roger Morris giving a call out to Santorini (and all Greek wines).

But we also offer you a chance to hear more about Santorini wines directly from our own man-about-islands, Yiannis Paraskevopoulos, who led the seminar—and has led a new generation of young winemakers into the future. Our Q&A with Greece’s unofficial ambassador-at-large for Greek wines says putting Santorini on the radar requires educating the public about the versatilty of the wines. Learning to pronounce “assyrtiko” will come in time.

4 questions for Yiannis Paraskevopoulos

WFS:  What’s your impression of guests’ engagement with the wines–do people
seem more knowledgeable or comfortable?
YP:   It goes without saying, some years ago these wines seemed alien to most non-Greeks. Most people that attended the New York Santorini wines event knew most of the wines and producers and the particulars.

WFS:    Compared to this time last year when you were in NYC, how far along have people come in their appreciation or interest in the wines?
YP:    Hard to say, but I think that Greek wines have been “promoted” to from oddities reliable wines with a specific style of their own (mineral, food-friendly etc).

WFS:    What’s the message that they understand about Santorini wines?
YP:   They are massive whites with big character and worth having on their table.

WFS:    What further education do we need to undertake to get people on board?
YP:     Expose more and more key wine people to the Santorini reality and particularity. This last event seems to be on the exact right track.

OK, we’ll quit the cruelty and let you in on what did you missed, all of which [happily] are imported.

FLIGHT 1

1. SIGALAS SANTORINI 2010, Assyrtiko 100%, Alcohol: 14.2% pH: 3.1

2. GAIA THALASSITIS 2010, Assyrtiko 100%, Alcohol: 13.0% pH: 3.0

3. GAVALAS SANTORINI 2009, Assyrtiko 100%, Alcohol: 13.1% pH 3.2

4. KOUTSOYIANNOPOULOS SANTORINI 2009 , Assyrtiko 100%, Alcohol: 13.13% pH: 3.0

5. SIGALAS SANTORINI 2006, Assyrtiko 100%, Alcohol: 13.7% pH: 3.1

FLIGHT 2

1. GAIA ASSYRTIKO WILD FERMENT 2010, Assyrtiko 100%, Alcohol: 13.0% pH: 3.03. Fermented using wild yeast (Part Inox 1000lt & Part Barrel). Aged 5 months with all new wood: 70% Fr, 20% US, 10% Acacia

2. HADZIDAKIS NYKTERI 2009, Assyrtiko 100%, Alcohol: 15.0 % pH: 3.11. 8-9 months French oak (2^nd/3^rd/4^th Use)

3. ESTATE ARGYROS  2009, Assyrtiko 100%, Alcohol: 13.0% pH: 2.92. 20% fermentation new French oak

4. SANTO WINES NYTERI RESERVE 2008 , Assyrtiko 100%, Alcohol: 14.0% pH: 2.83. 9 months French oak

5. BOUTARI KALISSTI RESERVE 2007, Assyrtiko 100%, Alcohol: 14.0% pH: 3.12. 7 months French oak

FLIGHT 3

1. ROUSSOS VINSANTO 2006, Assyrtiko 75%, Aidani 15% Athiri 15%. Res. Sugar: 180 g/l Alcohol: 11.5%

2. KARAMOLEGOS VINSANTO 2005, Assyrtiko 75%, Aidani 25%. Res. Sugar: 225 g/l Alcohol: 10.9%

3. SANTO WINES VINSANTO 2004, Assyrtiko 80%, Aidani 20%. Res. Sugar: 238 g/l Alcohol: 10.9%

4. HADZIDAKIS VINSANTO 2003, Assyrtiko 60%, Aidani 40%. Res. Sugar: 286 g/l Alcohol: 13.0%

5. ARGYROS VINSANTO 1989, Assyrtiko 80%, Aidani 10%, Athiri 10%. Res. Sugar: 240 g/l Alcohol: 14.0%

IMPORTERS: Aretemis Karamolegos; Hellas Imports // Boutari: Terlato Wines International // Canava Roussos: Petropoulos Imports // Domaine Sigalas: Diamond Wine Importers // Estate Argyros: Athenee Importers // Gaia: Athenee Importers // Gavalas Winery: Dionysos Imports // Hatzidakis: Trireme Imports // Koutsoyannopoulos Winery: Athena Imports // SantoWines: Stellar Importing