Greece Mini Series: Santorini - Sun, Cats, and Underwater Wines with Gai’a Wines
Most people will recognize Santorini as an amazing holiday destination with sandy beaches and beautiful weather in the spring and summer. This island is probably what most people picture in their minds when they think of the Greek islands. Santorini is part of the Cyclades which is an island group made up of 18 different islands.
In Episode #117 of the Wine CEO Podcast, I talked with a winemaker from Tinos, which is a small island in the Cyclades. We discussed how wind can be challenging as wineries need to find ways to protect their vines. This is also a big problem on Santorini. However, on a positive note, the sandy soil of Santorini has protected the vines from phylloxera, a pest that destroyed much of the world’s grape plants in both the 19th and 20th centuries. This pest cannot survive in the sand, which meant that the grapes grown on Santorini were safe from this pest.
Santorini has a unique history, and not only when it comes to wine! Legends say that Santorini may have been the lost Atlantis, because it was once an island that erupted in 1500 BCE, destroying the Minoan civilization in Crete forever. Now it’s one of the top vacation destinations in the world and it is arguably the region that put Greek wines on the international map.
The vineyards in Santorini are planted with 70% white Greek grape Assyrtiko. Something interesting about the Assyrtiko from Santorini is that there it benefits from aging, which is not usual for most white wines. Assyrtiko has extremely low pH levels, which is one of the key components for aging wine. It is also acidic and has surprisingly high tannins for a white wine (these are also two other components for judging if a wine should be aged). Yiannis Paraskevopoulos, a winemaker who has been growing assyrtiko on Santorini for years shares “Assyrtiko of Santorini may be a white wine, but it surely behaves like a red.” However, though Assyrtiko can be aged, it is a bit of a preference. For example, Greek Assyrtiko drinkers might like this wine a bit younger with stronger acidity, whereas French and Italians might like an aged Assyrtiko with a toned-down acidity due to the flavors of white wines that are from their native regions. Additionally, some Assyrtiko is aged in oak barrels, though when this happens the wine is not overpowered by the oak flavors that are usually passed from oak barrels to the wine being aged in them.
On Episode #118 of the Wine CEO Podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing father and daughter duo Yiannis and Leto Paraskevopoulos of Gai’a Wines. We talk about so many topics in this interview, starting with the wine renaissance of the 1990s and Yiannis’ view on how that revival changed the landscape for Greek wines. We also spent some time talking about their winery on Nemea where they grow Agiorgitiko grapes. I talked more about Nemea in Episode 114 of the Wine CEO Podcast, but it was so good to hear another perspective from a different winemaker here in Episode #118. Then, we turned our attention to Santorini, which was the main focus of this interview.
Yiannis and Leto are both scientists and they bring that background into the winemaking process. Something I loved hearing about was how they submerge one of their wines in the sea. They started this process in 2009, and though a few other wineries have tried this, the process isn’t widely used today. The wines are submerged underwater for four years, which blocks any oxygen from entering the wine. This affects the taste of the wine in such a unique way. When the wine is taken out of the sea after four years of being submerged, the flavors are between that of the very young and very aged wines. It’s more mellow than the young wines of only 1-2 years old, but it hasn’t mellowed out as much as the older wines aged for four years while not being submerged under water. Yiannis and Leto explained that even if you were to take two bottles of wine from the same year, one that was submerged under water for four years and one that was not, you would be able to tell a difference between these two when tasting them side by side. Neither is good or bad, but they are noticeably different from one another. In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not allow the submerged wines into the U.S. so anyone living in America, you’ll need to travel to Greece to try them. Just one more reason to travel to Santorini, right?!
Something else unique about Santorini is how the wineries deal with the extreme winds. Because of the extremely windy nature of the Cyclades, winemakers on Santorini are known for growing their grapes in circular baskets on the ground called kouloura. This process goes back generations and it is an effective way to protect the grapes from the wind. These baskets keep the grapes close to the ground, but it also means that everything must be hand-harvested. This is all extremely challenging work, but it really pays off with an amazing final product. If you’re ever surprised by the price of Assyrtiko, just remember that so much hard work goes into making that one bottle of wine and there is a story behind it as well. How amazing is it that with just a bottle of wine, we can be connected to people around the world and share in their story of winemaking? It’s one of the things I love about wine and learning from different winemakers!
I loved my interview with Yiannis and Leto and if you want to hear more about what we talked about, be sure to listen to Episode #118 of the Wine CEO Podcast. We go over food and wine pairings, more information on Gai’a Wines and wines of Greece, Vin Santo made in Santorini (even though Vin Santo is usually associated with Italy), and up-and-coming projects at Gai’a Wines. It was so much fun talking with both of them as winemakers, hearing their expertise as scientists, and getting to witness the father-daughter banter between these two. It was one of my favorite interviews and I really hope you enjoy it!
We only have a few more episodes of this Greek mini-series, so make sure to subscribe to the Wine CEO Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts so that you don’t miss any of the final episodes in this mini-series on Greece. Yamas!
Photos Courtesy: Gai’a Winery