Santorini Wine Tour

So you’re a wine lover holidaying in Santorini. You’re looking at the wine list and you’re utterly confused. You’ve probably heard about Vinsanto but suspect there is much more. What are these grape varietals you’ve never heard of? Well, you’re not alone and in any event, it’s a great excuse to win[e] down and get yourself on to a wine tour.

We recently went on the Santorini Wine Roads tour with (aptly named) Santorini Wine Tour and were thoroughly impressed. These guys offer a series of educational yet fun tours, that centre around the wines and tastes of Santorini as well as rare sights that only a local would know. We loved spending the day tasting our way through Santorini on the tour which is truly the best way to explore the magical world of Santorini’s volcanic wines.

The day started off with pick up from our hotel where we were greeted by our affable tour guide who provided a little background about Santorini’s wine history as we headed off to our first destination.

We learned about the 3 PDO classifications – Santorini, Vinsanto and Nykteri which all contain predominantly Assyrtiko grapes (Santorini and Vinsanto 75%; Nykteri 51%) and come with a long list of rules and restrictions. Then there’s the PGI Cyclades classification which basically means these wine don’t have stick to the strict rules that PDO wines have but have to be sourced from grapes from the Cycladic islands. Then there are the 2 main red wine varietals - Mavrotragano and Mandelaria.

We tasted our way through various expressions of the various varietals at 3 stunning wineries (Hatzidakis Winery, then Artemis Karamolegos and lastly Avantis Winery Santorini). And even got to hear all about Santorini’s volcanic soil (where philoxthra never took hold) and its microclimate. We stood amongst vines planted using the kourloura method, and learned about the cultivating techniques that include both traditional and modern vinification techniques.

All the while it was a wonderful time of tasting and discussing with likeminded folk whilst nibbling on Cycladic cheese and local bites. It was a day to savour and remember. Highly recommended.

Find out more here.