All activities / Wine / Spirits Education / Santorini
Wine / Spirits Education in SantoriniGR
A volcanic caldera whose ungrafted Assyrtiko vines, coiled into wind-proof baskets on ash and pumice, make Greece's most acclaimed white wine.
Why here
Santorini's vineyard is a living impossibility: phylloxera never survived the volcanic ash, so the Assyrtiko vines are ungrafted with root systems centuries old, trained into low kouloura baskets against the meltemi wind, on soil of ash, pumice, and lava from the eruption that ended Minoan Crete. The result is Greece's most internationally acclaimed white and the Vinsanto that made the island's fortune for centuries before tourism did. The education is estate-level: Santo Wines, the island cooperative founded 1911, runs a dedicated wine-tourism center in Pyrgos, and Estate Argyros, fourth-generation since 1903, pours Vinsanto from 200-year-old vines. A completely different story from Crete's indigenous reds an island group away.
Best months
April to June and September to October are the tasting seasons worth having; July and August belong to the cruise crowds. Early August brings Greece's earliest harvest for enthusiasts who book ahead. Tastings run 12 to 55 euros.
Getting there & around
Fly to Santorini (JTR) or arrive by ferry; the main wineries cluster within a 15-minute drive around Pyrgos and Episkopi. Book estate tours ahead in the shoulder seasons.
Skill levels: beginner, intermediate
Schools & guides (2)
Estate Argyros
OutfitterA fourth-generation estate founded in 1903, pouring bookable tastings including Vinsanto from its 200-year-old Monsignori vines.
Santo Wines
OutfitterThe island cooperative founded in 1911, running winery tours and tastings at its dedicated wine-tourism center on the caldera edge at Pyrgos.