Handpicked experience · Santorini
Santorini, Greece
Not a village circuit but three wineries: hand-woven basket vines, root systems three centuries old under young plants, and the grape that keeps its acid in the heat.
Three estates visited, with tastings and access to the working cellars
Up to twelve wines poured, the island's signature white among them
A walk through volcanic vineyard to see how the vines are trained and what they grow in
An optional sunset finish with small plates, chosen at booking
A small group, capped at eight, for unhurried tastings
Read the itinerary rather than the title. The name promises a panorama of the island's most popular destinations; what is actually arranged is five or six hours across three wineries, with tastings, cellar access and a walk through a vineyard. That is a good afternoon, but it is not a circuit of Santorini's villages and viewpoints, and anyone booking for the latter will be disappointed.
This runs either as a private booking or as a small group capped at eight, so in both cases you are with a handful of people rather than a coachload. The practical difference is company, not content: the route, the stops and the time given at each are the same.
The vines here do not look like vines anywhere else. They are trained into low coiled baskets lying on the ground, with the fruit growing on the inside of the coil, sheltered from wind that would otherwise strip the plant and from sun that would cook the grapes. Every one is woven by hand and rewoven as it grows. Nothing about it can be mechanised, which is why the practice is under quiet pressure from younger growers experimenting with wires.
This is the detail that surprises people. Many root systems here are two or three centuries old, but the visible plant rarely is. When a basket tires, the grower buries one living cane in the soil, lets it root, and cuts away the old trunk. The plant is renewed while the roots continue. What you are looking at is a very old organism wearing new growth.
Assyrtiko does something unusual chemically: it holds its acidity as it ripens in fierce heat, when almost every other white variety loses it and turns flabby. That single property is why the island can make a taut, mineral, structured wine at a latitude that should not permit one, and it is why growers in Australia and California have started planting it.
Harvest is done in darkness or at first light, with headlamps, because fruit brought in at thirty-five degrees begins fermenting on the way to the press and loses aromatics before anyone can intervene. If you are here in August you will see the crates arriving at the wineries before breakfast, already cold.
Three layers are visible where the ground is cut: pale pumice from the great eruption, dark scoria beneath, and older rock below that. There is essentially no organic matter and no clay. Water drains instantly, roots go deep, and yields are tiny, which is the whole explanation for the concentration in the glass.
Ending the afternoon as the light goes, with something to eat alongside, is an extra you have to ask for when you reserve rather than something the standard schedule provides. Worth settling in advance: those late slots go first, and the change in atmosphere is considerable.
Collection is generally from accommodation, subject to confirmation. Bring a hat, water and sunglasses for open volcanic ground, and cash for anything you want to take away. Tastings are for those of legal drinking age. Cancellation is free up to a day ahead.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
No, despite the title. The arrangement covers three wineries with tastings, cellar access and a vineyard walk. If you want the villages and viewpoints, book a different itinerary.
It runs either privately or as a small group capped at eight, and the option booked decides which. Either way the numbers stay small.
To protect the fruit. The plant is coiled low against the ground with the grapes growing inside the ring, shielded from wind that would strip it and sun that would cook them. Each one is woven by hand.
The roots can be two or three hundred years old while the visible plant is young. Growers bury a living cane to root it and then remove the tired trunk, so the organism continues underneath while the top is replaced.
It keeps its acidity while ripening in severe heat, which almost no other white grape manages. That is why a sharp, mineral wine is possible at this latitude, and why growers abroad have begun planting it.
Because grapes picked at thirty-five degrees start fermenting before they reach the press and lose their aromatics. Picking in darkness or at dawn brings the fruit in cold.
Only if selected at booking, as an upgrade with small plates. It is not part of the standard arrangement, and those slots are the first to fill.