Wine tourism in Santorini
The island of Santorini, besides its magnificent scenery, has to offer many more to the visitors, many activities to take part to and enjoy.
The archaeological place of Akrotiri, ancient Thira, the temple of Episkopi, the prehistorical and the archaeological museum of Fira, the folkore museum of Kontohori and the traditional museum of Pirgos, are just some of the places you can visit when you go for cultural tourism, which should include a visit to the traditional village of Oia, where you can find the naval museum of Thira.
The trip to Santorini can only be complete by taking a cruise at the caldera of the volcano and visit the small island of Thirasia. You should also try the local cuisine with its local products, you can find it almost to any restaurant of Santorini being the proper company for those who do wine-tourism.
Why the wine of Santorini is so special?
The volcano of Santorini has made a unique ecosystem where the vineyards thrive. They are quite small but they cover the biggest part of cultivated soil. Our vineyards can be great place to get your coach that provide variety of modalities of therapies. A part of the vineyards are certified as biological, although practically most of the owner grow theirs using biological methods, due to the natural resistance to parasites and diseases that derives from climate and volcanic environment.
A private tour will help you to find out everything about the relationship between the wine and the volcano.
Santorini’s vineyards
Santorini ‘s Cuckoo (or wreath or vineyard) is unique in the world shaping in vineyards.
Basket-shaped stumps with a very low trunk made with technique and pruning (branch of Santorini).
Inside the baskets are the grapes and they are protected from the sun and especially from the air as the meltemia drifts the fragile surface soil creating many times real sandblasting that can seriously injure them. At the same time, it is close to the ground, enjoying whatever moisture it produces, and this is important because the water in Santorini is scarce.
A combination of beauty and taste
A private tour in Santorini is the ideal activity for you to follow in order to play with your senses and live a unique experience under one of the most famous sunset in the world!
What Santorini Wine Tourism Actually Involves
The phrase covers everything from a twenty-minute tasting on a terrace to a full day with a winemaker in a cave. Knowing which version you are booking is the difference between a good afternoon and a queue with a view.
The standard tasting in santorini wine tourism. Four to six wines at an estate, poured with an explanation of the grape and the soil, usually forty minutes to an hour. This is the backbone of santorini wine tourism and most visitors do two in an afternoon.
The guided estate visit, the fuller santorini wine tourism. The tasting plus the vineyard and the cellar, with somebody who works there. Ninety minutes, and considerably more interesting than the terrace version.
The food pairing side of santorini wine tourism. Tastings served with fava, tomatokeftedes, chloro and capers. The island’s food was built around these wines and it shows immediately.
The harvest visit. Late July and August, when the presses are running. The most rewarding form of santorini wine tourism and the least comfortable, because it coincides with the heat.
The cave canava, the oldest santorini wine tourism there is. Canaves cut into the pumice, cool without power, where the wine was made for centuries. Several estates still use theirs.
The museum route. The underground wine museum at Koutsoyannopoulos lays out the whole working year in a tunnel, and it is the best starting point for anybody new to santorini wine tourism.
The sunset tasting, the most booked santorini wine tourism. A caldera terrace at the right hour. Expensive, crowded and genuinely spectacular. Book it or do not attempt it.
What you are tasting. Assyrtiko first, then usually a Nykteri, sometimes a red, and Vinsanto last.
Assyrtiko, the grape santorini wine tourism is built on. Bone dry, high acid, saline and mineral, from ungrafted vines on volcanic ash. It ages for a decade and it is the reason santorini wine tourism exists at all.
Nykteri. The old style, picked at night, fermented longer in wood, rounder and fuller than a modern Assyrtiko.
Vinsanto, the rarest bottle in santorini wine tourism. Grapes sun-dried on mats for one to two weeks, then years in barrel. Sweet, dark, with the acid still underneath. Nothing else in Greece tastes like it.
Mavrotragano. The near-extinct red being replanted by a handful of growers, and the bottle serious visitors now come looking for.
The basket vine. The koulouri, woven into a nest on the ground so the fruit sits inside, sheltered from the meltemi and gathering the night dew. It exists nowhere else, and seeing one in the field is the single image most people take away from santorini wine tourism.
Ungrafted roots under santorini wine tourism. Phylloxera cannot live in this sand, so the vines are on their own roots and some root systems are centuries old.
Why the yield is tiny. No irrigation, no rivers, no springs. The plant concentrates instead of swelling, which is the whole flavour and the whole price.
The Estates and What Each One Is Like
Roughly eight to a dozen wineries take visitors at any time, spread across the island, and they are not interchangeable. Choosing two that contrast with each other is the whole skill of santorini wine tourism.
Santo Wines, the busiest stop in santorini wine tourism. The growers’ cooperative above Pyrgos, with the long terrace looking straight down the caldera. The biggest operation on the island and the one every cruise group visits, which makes it spectacular at six and impossible at seven.
Venetsanos, the most photographed santorini wine tourism stop. Built into the cliff above Athinios in 1949, the first industrial winery on Santorini, designed so gravity moved the wine downhill through the building. The architecture alone justifies a stop.
Koutsoyannopoulos. The underground wine museum in a tunnel, with the working year laid out stage by stage. The most instructive hour in santorini wine tourism, and the right first visit.
Domaine Sigalas, northern santorini wine tourism. In the flat northern vineyards near Baxedes, away from the caldera entirely. Serious about Assyrtiko and about the old Mavrotragano red.
Estate Argyros, the oldest vines in santorini wine tourism. Episkopi Gonia, with some of the oldest vines on the island and a Vinsanto that is the reference point for the style.
Gaia, the beach side of santorini wine tourism. On the beach at Exo Gonia, in a converted tomato factory, which tells you a good deal about the island’s agricultural history.
Art Space. A canava at Exo Gonia that is half winery and half gallery, cut into the rock, tiny production, and the least commercial stop in santorini wine tourism.
Gavalas, family santorini wine tourism at Megalochori. A family estate going back generations, with old varieties most people have never heard of.
Vassaltis, the modern face of santorini wine tourism. In the north near Vourvoulos, and the clearest demonstration of where the island’s winemaking is heading.
Canava Roussos, traditional santorini wine tourism. One of the oldest estates on Santorini, at Mesa Gonia, traditional in style and unhurried.
Hatzidakis, low-intervention santorini wine tourism. Pyrgos Kallistis, low-intervention and natural in approach, and a name that serious drinkers seek out.
How to pair two. One large and one small. The cooperative or Venetsanos for the view and the scale, then a family canava for the wine. That contrast is what makes santorini wine tourism worth a whole afternoon.
Where they sit geographically. Most are in the middle and south of the island around Pyrgos, Megalochori, Episkopi and Exo Gonia. Sigalas and Vassaltis are the northern exceptions.
The cellar-door advantage in santorini wine tourism. Bottles at the estate are usually cheaper than in a shop on the rim, and several small producers sell nowhere else.
What not to do. Four estates in one afternoon. Palate and patience both run out, and santorini wine tourism done at that pace stops being tasting and starts being drinking.
Planning It: Season, Timing and the Driving Problem
The wine does not change much month to month. Everything else does, and the practical side decides whether santorini wine tourism is a pleasure or an ordeal.
The best months for santorini wine tourism. May, June, September and October. Comfortable temperatures, estates not overrun, and staff with time to talk.
The harvest, the peak of santorini wine tourism. Late July into August, the earliest in Greece. The presses are working and the estates are busy, which cuts both ways for santorini wine tourism.
August and santorini wine tourism. Peak heat and peak crowds. Tastings still run, but book, and go early or late rather than at four in the afternoon.
Winter santorini wine tourism. Several estates stay open, the cellars are quiet, and prices everywhere are lower. A pruning-season visit is the connoisseur’s version of santorini wine tourism.
The right hour for santorini wine tourism. Late morning or from five onwards. Midday in an unshaded vineyard is wasted on everybody.
How long one estate takes. An hour for a tasting, ninety minutes with the vineyard and cellar. Build in twenty minutes of driving between stops.
How many in a day. Two properly, three at a push. This is the most common mistake in santorini wine tourism and the easiest to avoid.
The driving problem in santorini wine tourism. Greek drink-driving limits are strict and the island’s roads are narrow, unlit and busy with scooters. Somebody has to stay dry, and that is the entire practical case for a driver.
Taxis and santorini wine tourism. About thirty vehicles serve the whole island. Assuming one will appear outside a winery at nine in the evening is not a plan.
The bus. Routes go through Fira and do not usefully connect the estates. Santorini wine tourism by public transport is close to impossible.
Booking santorini wine tourism. Small estates have limited seats and several require reservations in season. The large ones absorb walk-ins but fill at sunset.
Cruise days and santorini wine tourism. Check the ship schedule. Three or four calls puts several thousand extra people onto the same terraces between ten and four.
What santorini wine tourism costs. A tasting is priced per flight and rises with the terrace view. Food pairings cost more. The cheapest good wine on the island is bought at the cellar door.
What to wear. Closed shoes for a vineyard walk. The soil is loose ash and the vines are on the ground.
Taking bottles home from santorini wine tourism. Hold luggage only; nothing over a hundred millilitres goes in the cabin. Most estates will pack and several will ship.
Combining it with the rest of the island. The estates sit among Pyrgos, Megalochori, Emporio and Episkopi, so santorini wine tourism pairs naturally with the inland villages and with Akrotiri rather than with the caldera rim.
Why the Vineyard Is Shrinking, and Why It Matters
The land under santorini wine tourism. Vineyard area on Santorini has fallen sharply over the last fifty years, because a field is worth a fraction of what the same field is worth with rooms on it.
The labour behind santorini wine tourism. Basket vines cannot be machine-harvested. Every bunch is cut by hand, in the hottest weeks of the Greek year, and the people who know how to weave a koulouri are not being replaced.
The yield that sets the price of santorini wine tourism. Among the lowest in Europe per hectare, which means the price of a bottle is not a marketing decision.
The water. No rivers, no springs, everything desalinated. Nothing about this is going to get easier.
Why santorini wine tourism is part of the answer. Visits and cellar-door sales are now a meaningful share of what keeps small estates viable, and a bottle bought at the winery returns more to the grower than the same bottle bought abroad.
What that means for a visitor. Buying two bottles at a family canava does more for the vineyard than any amount of enthusiasm about the view.
What is being protected. Ungrafted, pre-phylloxera vines on volcanic ash, trained in a way found nowhere else on earth, producing a grape that has been grown on this spot since the Bronze Age.
The honest conclusion. Santorini wine tourism is not a sideshow to the caldera. It is the part of the island that is still working land rather than selling a view, and it is the half most visitors never see.
Santorini Wine Tourism: The Questions We Are Asked
Is santorini wine tourism worth a whole day? Half a day, properly. Two estates, the vineyards and lunch is the right shape; a full day is better spent adding Akrotiri or a village.
Do I need to know about wine? No. The estates explain the volcano, the basket vines and the absence of water, and that story carries the visit on its own.
Which wine should I try first? A young dry Assyrtiko. Everything else on the island makes sense against it.
Is Vinsanto like Italian Vin Santo? No. Same principle of drying the grapes, completely different result, and the Santorini version keeps a sharp acidity underneath the sweetness.
Are there red wines? Yes, Mavrotragano and Mandilaria, in small quantities. They are the rarest thing in santorini wine tourism and worth asking for.
Can children come? Yes at most estates, and the vineyards and caves interest them more than people expect.
Is it accessible? The larger wineries are. Cave canavas and vineyard walks generally are not, so say so when booking.
Do I have to book? For small estates and for sunset, yes. For the large ones in shoulder season, usually not.
How much wine is actually poured? Small measures across four to six wines. It is a tasting, not a session, but it still adds up over two estates.
Can I visit during the harvest? Yes, and it is the most interesting time, though estates are working and visits are shorter.
Is the wine expensive? Relative to mainland Greek wine, yes. Tiny yields, hand harvesting and land that is worth more with a hotel on it.
What food goes with it? Fava, tomatokeftedes, white aubergine, capers and chloro cheese. The island’s cooking and its wine grew up together.
Why do the vines look like baskets? Wind and water. The nest shelters the fruit from the meltemi and collects the night dew, and it is the defining image of santorini wine tourism.
Can I do it on a cruise day? One estate, comfortably, with a vehicle waiting. Two is optimistic against a tender deadline.
Doing It With Us
Two estates and the vineyards, the standard santorini wine tourism day. Four to five hours, paced so the tastings are enjoyed rather than rushed, with the driving handled. Our private wine tour visits three wineries for anybody who wants the longer version.
The museum first, the best start to santorini wine tourism. Starting underground at the wine museum makes everything afterwards land better, particularly for a first visit.
Wine with the inland villages. Pyrgos and Megalochori sit among the estates, and combining them is the most rewarding version of santorini wine tourism on the island.
Sunset santorini wine tourism, handled. A terrace at the right hour, booked in advance, and somewhere to park.
Tell us what you drink and we will shape the santorini wine tourism around it. Send your dates and what you like, and we will pick the two estates that actually suit it rather than the two closest to your hotel.
