By Sharon McDonnell

It’s called the most-photographed sunset Santorini’s prized dessert wine, Vinsanto, “Every winery has is own charm, but Santo in Greece: people gather by the hundreds is a blend of the three white grapes (but Wines by far has the most breathtaking in Oia, a small town on the island of more than half Assyrtiko) and smells like view. It’s one of the biggest properties Santorini, sittingIt’s on steps and low walls, Greekin dried fruit, raisins and sweet spices.to It facingMe the caldera,” says Ilias Roussakis, outdoor “sunset bars” or by the Venetian tastes like Port but is traditionally made in whose tour company, Wine in Santorini, castle, cameras and cellphones poised, a different process: the grapes are sun-dried drives visitors to several wineries to taste to catch the sun serenely sinking into for 12-14 days until they resemble raisins, 15-20 wines – an ideal way to avoid the the Aegean Sea. The hauntingly familiar then crushed, fermented and aged in oak island’s vertiginous cliffside roads. He’s scene is a Cubist fantasy of stark white for at least two years. not kidding; the view of the caldera way boxy houses, some turquoise-domed, some below the gigantic terrace, a cruise ship that salmon-pink, perched on cliffs, facing a Two red wine types, to a much lesser degree, looks like a toy, and stark-white villages teal-blue sea against a cloudless blue sky. are also grown on Santorini: Mavrotragano, crowning brownish-red cliffs, is staggering. Tiny “islands” nearby are actually parts an endangered red protected with intense Santo, a wine co-operative near Pyrgos, of Santorini that remained above sea tannins and fresh fruit and spice aromas, south of Fira (Thira), the capital, is level after a volcano erupted about 3,600 and Mandilaria, which makes a medium- Santorini’s biggest wine producer. It’s also years ago, submerging most of Santorini bodied red with dark red fruit aromas. You a favorite spot for weddings. Its big shop beneath the sea, and they seem to float in won’t find other European grapes here: it’s is a great place to stock up on local foods, the caldera, or filled-in crater. illegal to grow them. from olives, fava beans, cherry tomatoes and “Catch the moment, not the photo,” a philosophical bit of graffiti on a wall urged. Good advice – this island in the Cycladic chain that also includes Mykonos, Paros and Delos is more than a photographer’s dream. It’s the home of crisp dry white wines tasting of minerals that reflect the volcanic soil, some of the first Greek wines to win PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) status. The signature grape of Santorini is Assyrtiko, whose full-bodied high-acid wines smell of citrus and account for 70 percent of the island’s vineyards. It’s often combined with Athiri, which makes for a medium-bodied white with delicate aromas, and Aidani, which produces a medium-bodied white, pleasantly acidic and aromatic. Nykteri, a blend of mostly Assyrtiko but also Athiri and Aidani, is made in stainless steel, then aged in oak for at least three months. Vineyards on Santorini don’t look like While indelible memories from my first American vineyards. The vines are coiled Santorini visit in the 1980s lingered – into wreaths that resemble nests to protect lying in a lounge chair, my feet dangling against the intense heat and harsh summer over the side of a cliff – I was stunned wind, called the meltemi, of this desert to discover the changes on my recent island of few trees, explains Roussakis, a visit. Oia’s main street, built from marble, winemaker trained in France and Athens. is now lined with shops selling jewelry, The island’s winemaking history precedes scarves, clothing and art. But it’s still the cataclysmic volcanic eruption of about Santorini, complete with new and old 1,600 B.C. that destroyed the Minoan restaurants such as Red Bicycle, where my settlement of Akrotiri, whose well-preserved dinner of gourmet Greek food was paired frescoed houses and furnishings can be with a sublime sea panorama, and luxury visited in Santorini’s south. At a wine hotels like Grace Santorini and Iconic Kavalieros (“cavalier”) Assyrtiko, museum at Koutsoyiannopoulos Winery, Santorini, both near Oia, whose infinity Assyrtiko-Athiri blend, Mavrotragano near Kamari, I learned about this history pools jutting out from white-on-white and Vinsanto. It’s considered Santorini’s and Santorini’s 18th-century wine trade with cave-like structures offer mesmerizing most innovative winery. Russia, especially with the Black Sea seaport views of the caldera far below. of Odessa, thanks to dioramas and tradi- • Gaia Wines in Monolithos. tional winemaking implements and vessels. A few more winery favorites: Gaia is recognized for its bone-dry • Estate Argyros in Episkopi Gonia. Thalassitis Assyrtiko, its oak-fermented Art and wine are a terrific pairing. The Award-winning Argyros is known for Thalassitis Assyrtiko and its wild- owner of Art Space, a winery and gallery, its stainless-steel Assyrtiko, its barrel- yeast-fermented Assyrtiko. certainly thinks so. Besides a tasting at fermented Assyrtiko blend, a 20-year-old this winery in Exo Gonia, l admired hun- • Gavalas Wines in Megalochori. Vinsanto (aged 17 years in French oak, dreds of paintings and sculptures by three Credited with reviving two obscure three years in the bottle) and 5-year-old dozen contemporary European artists, mostly white grapes in its Katsano-Gaidoruia Vinsanto. Greek, in the gallery, whose dramatic blend; also known for its Assyrtiko. whitewashed long narrow space and • Domaine Sigalas in Oia. If you go: hollowed-out vaulted ceilings mimicked Enjoy a tasting of local food and wine in www.visitgreece.gr/en/greek_islands/ Santorini’s ubiquitous cave-like dwellings, a patio next to a vineyard at award-winning santorini dug out of sheer rock. Sigalas, notable for its single-vineyard www.wineinsantorini.com s

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