Traditional Santorini Wineries

Beyond the sunset spots, explore traditional producers. Kouloura basket-trained vines, volcanic cellars, and family operations making wine as their ancestors did. Sigalas, Gavalas, Hatzidakis are essential.

What to do there

4 things to do

1. 1 Taste the Wine That Started 3,600 Years of Continuity Wine · Price: moderate

   Where: Domaine Sigalas, Baxedes plain near Oia, northern Santorini. Walk-ins are welcome at the wine bar — no reservation required (book ahead in peak July–August to secure a table). Look for the low volcanic-stone building in the flat vineyard plain.

   What: Santorini has documented wine production going back to Minoan pithoi storage jars found at Akrotiri, buried in volcanic ash around 1600 BC — that is 3,600 years of unbroken viticulture on one island. This glass connects all of it. Paris Sigalas was a mathematician, not a winemaker, when he took over his grandfather's vineyard in 1991 and applied mathematical logic to volcanic terroir. His 1991 vintage was the first wine ever labelled with the Santorini PDO. His Kavalieros: a single-vineyard Assyrtiko from the highest-altitude parcel on the island, aged 18 months on lees in tank. It scored 95 Falstaff points and was the first single-vineyard Assyrtiko anyone on Santorini had ever made.

   How: Ask for the Kavalieros by name (€30–45 per glass on-site). Taste it alongside the entry-level Assyrtiko to feel what altitude and extra lees-time adds to the same grape and soil. The west-facing terrace catches the sunset over the Aegean — plan this for late afternoon.

   Backup: If Kavalieros is sold out or over budget, the standard Domaine Sigalas Assyrtiko is excellent. In off-season, find Sigalas wines at any wine shop in Fira and Oia.

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2. 2 Find a 200-Year-Old Vine Growing on Its Own Roots Adventure · Free

   Where: The roadsides and agricultural fields around Episkopi Gonia and Megalochori — anywhere in the interior of Santorini. Kouloura vines line the roads. You will see them from a car or walk right past them on any path through the island's center. No ticket, no gate, no appointment.

   What: Look for the basket-shaped vines resting on the volcanic earth, canes woven into a wreath no taller than your knee. This is the kouloura training system — and it exists nowhere else on earth at this scale. The vines are trained this low for two reasons: the Aegean winds can gust past 100km/h and would shred a vertical vine, and the morning sea fog trapped in the basket is the only moisture these plants receive all summer. Santorini has almost no rainfall from May to September. Now look closer at the trunk. If it is as thick as your forearm and deeply gnarled, you may be looking at a vine that is 150 to 200 years old, growing on its own original roots. When phylloxera destroyed every vineyard in Europe in the 1860s–1880s, Santorini was untouched. The volcanic pumice and low-clay sand made it impossible for the root louse to burrow. These vines never needed grafting. The root in the ground is the same root that was in the ground before Napoleon died.

   How: Pull over anywhere on the road between Episkopi Gonia and Megalochori. Crouch next to the vine and put your hand on the trunk. Count the canes woven into the basket. If you find a vine with a trunk circumference of 40cm or more, the Argyros estate has confirmed their oldest parcels exceed 200 years.

   Backup: Kouloura vines are visible island-wide. If driving, pull over on any rural road in the interior. If walking, the path between Akrotiri and Megalochori passes through vineyards.

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3. 3 Drink the Wine That Outlasted the Ottoman Empire History · Price: moderate

   Where: Santo Wines cooperative terrace, outside Pyrgos Kallistis village, 4km south of Fira. Walk-in is possible (arrive before 4pm; sunset terrace tables require advance booking). The cooperative has 1,200+ member farmers and has been operating since 1911.

   What: In the 14th and 15th centuries, the sweet sun-dried wine of Santorini — Vinsanto — was being shipped by Venetian merchants to the papal court in Rome and to royal courts across Europe. The Venetians may have named their own dried-grape wine 'Vin Santo' after Santorini's. When the Ottoman Turks occupied the island in 1579, they banned alcohol by religious law — but made an exception: the Russian Orthodox Church had adopted Santorini wine as their official Eucharistic wine (trade documented from 1786), and wine exports to Orthodox Russia were too economically vital to stop. This wine survived the Ottoman occupation by being irreplaceable at God's table. Santo Wines' Vinsanto 12 Years follows the exact same method: Assyrtiko and Aidani grapes sun-dried on rooftop mats for 12–14 days, then slow-fermented for 40–60 days as the sugar concentration fights off the yeast, then aged 12 years in barrel. The result is honey, caramelized fig, dried apricot, and volcanic stone acidity.

   How: Order the Vinsanto 12 Years specifically — not the 4-year, not the liqueur version. A 4-wine tasting package is €45; the basic wine tour is €12 (2 wines). Ask the server which vintage is currently pouring. The terrace overlooks the entire caldera, the active volcano, and the cliff villages — this is the island's most dramatic view from a wine glass.

   Backup: Santo Wines is open year-round. If the terrace is booked, their shop sells Vinsanto by the bottle. The 4-year version is the affordable entry; the 12-year is the revelation. The 20-year is the splurge.

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4. 4 Descend Into the Cave Where Vinsanto Ages in Rock Wine · Price: low · Optional

   Where: Hatzidakis Winery, Pyrgos Kallistis (road to Emporio), 330 meters above sea level. Book by appointment: hatzidakishospitality@gmail.com or +306981107180.

   What: Haridimos Hatzidakis died suddenly in August 2017, age 50 — widely mourned as one of Greece's finest winemakers. His family chose not to sell. Daughter Stella is now director; son Antonis, daughter Ariadne, and mother Konstantina continue alongside the winemaking team Haridimos trained. The winery is a kanavaki — a small family cave excavated 15 meters deep into volcanic rock beneath their own vineyard. The barrel cave at the tour's end is where Vinsanto ages in silence, exactly as Haridimos designed. Hatzidakis also makes one of the island's most interesting Nykteri: the 'night-shift' wine. Before modern temperature control, harvest had to happen at night when cool air protected the must from oxidation. Nykteri is the PDO designation for this tradition: 75%+ Assyrtiko, harvested at night, 3+ months in oak. It is richer and more structured than standard dry Assyrtiko.

   How: The €20/person tasting includes a 45–60 minute tour + 6 wines + Naxos goat cheese. The tour moves from stainless-steel tanks into the barrel cave. Ask to taste the Nykteri alongside the standard Assyrtiko — the contrast shows exactly what one change in harvest timing and 3 months of oak does to the same volcanic grape. Large groups are tasted in the barrel cave on monastery tables.

   Backup: If Hatzidakis is fully booked, their Nykteri and Vinsanto are sold at wine shops in Fira and Pyrgos. Santo Wines and Argyros also produce Nykteri. The cave itself is irreplaceable, but the wine is widely available on the island.

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Insider tips

• Sigalas is the benchmark

• Gavalas for traditional methods

• Hatzidakis for natural wine

• Visit multiple to understand the diversity