Hatzidakis Winery - Organic Cave Tasting

How to Complete

4 steps curated by Wine Memories

1. 🍷 1

   Descend Into the Cave That Refused to Uproot a Single Vine

   wine $$

   In 1997, Haridimos Hatzidakis spotted a cave under his wife Konstantina's family vineyard — a vineyard that had lain abandoned for 40 years after the 1956 earthquake drove her family to Athens. He said: 'Over here, we can create a Kanavaki.' The entire winery was built inside that cave, at 16°C year-round with zero air conditioning, because Haridimos refused to uproot even one vine to build on the surface. Every wine you taste here was fermented using only wild indigenous yeasts — a technique Haridimos pioneered on Santorini in the 1990s. The Hatzidakis Winery cave entrance sits on the Pyrgos–Emporio provincial road, approximately 1km south of Pyrgos Kallistis village center. Book by appointment at hatzidakishospitality@gmail.com or +306981107180. Standard tasting is €20 per person and includes 6 wines paired with Naxos Graviera goat cheese and traditional barley rusks.

   🔄 BACKUP: If no slots are available, try calling directly — same-day spots sometimes open.

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2. 🍷 2

   Ask for the Wine That Nearly Went Extinct

   wine $$

   Before 1995, not a single professional winemaker on earth had bottled a dry monovarietal Mavrotragano. Santorini's farmers had spent 80 years ripping it out and replanting with Assyrtiko, which paid better. By 2000 the grape was close to extinction — a handful of old basket-trained vines clinging to volcanic sand, ungrafted, some on 200-year-old roots that survived because phylloxera cannot move through Santorini's volcanic soil. Haridimos Hatzidakis changed all of that. Working at the Boutari estate in 1995 he ran a quiet experiment with Mavrotragano. His first bottling was the 1997 vintage, released 1999. Today, Mavrotragano is Santorini's most prized red. When your guide transitions to the reds at your tasting table inside the cave, ask: 'Can we taste the Mavrotragano?' It is a separate purchase from the standard tasting (expect €10–15 for a pour of this rare, oak-matured wine) but worth every cent.

   🔄 BACKUP: If Mavrotragano is not available, ask about the Skitali Barrel instead — only 300 magnums made per year, scoring 94/100 from Wineanorak in 2025.

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3. 📜 3

   Find the Vines That Have Never Been Grafted

   history Free

   The vines you are looking at are called 'kouloura' — woven into low wreaths (literally 'bread ring' in Greek), sitting on the volcanic earth, grape clusters protected inside like eggs in a nest. Santorini has been making wine for at least 3,500 years — Bronze Age finds from buried Akrotiri show wine amphorae and evidence of grape trading. These ungrafted vines are immune to phylloxera because the pest cannot move through Santorini's volcanic sandy soil — no clay, no road. While every other wine region on earth grafted their vines after the 1870s phylloxera catastrophe, these vines were never touched. Some rootstock here is 200–300 years old. The Mavrotragano vineyard plot sits directly above and surrounding the winery cave entrance. After your tasting, ask the guide if you can walk up to see the Mavrotragano vines — it takes 5 minutes and is almost always possible. Look closely at how the vine canes are woven into the basket shape, trained by hand every year.

   🔄 BACKUP: Even if no guide escort is available, the vineyard rows are visible from the winery entrance.

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4. ⛰️ 4

   Climb Pyrgos Kasteli for a Sunset Without 10,000 Strangers

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   While every tourist in Santorini is pressed shoulder-to-shoulder watching sunset in Oia, Pyrgos Kasteli gives you the same light — volcano, caldera, Aegean, orange sky — with the sound of church bells and hushed voices instead of cameras. The castle was built ~1580 during Venetian rule as one of five fortified settlements protecting the island from pirate raids. The houses themselves formed the outer walls; there was only one entrance, and an underground tunnel network for emergency escape. Parts were damaged in the same 1956 earthquake that drove Konstantina's family from the island. Kasteli of Pyrgos sits at the apex of Pyrgos village (36.38137°N, 25.44951°E), 7km south of Fira. From the winery, drive back into Pyrgos village center (~1km), park near the main square, then walk uphill through the labyrinthine alleys (~10 minutes). Visit in the 90 minutes before sunset. Buy a bottle of Hatzidakis Familia Assyrtiko and drink it at the top while watching the sun drop into the Aegean.

   🔄 BACKUP: If the castle ruins are crowded (rare), Franco's Bar in Pyrgos village has rooftop views toward the caldera with cocktails.

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Insider Tips

• ✦

  The 45-60 minute tour is one of Santorini's best values

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  Try the Mavrotragano red - Hatzidakis revived this nearly-extinct variety

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  Book ahead - the intimate space fills quickly