Tasting Notes
"Pale lemon green. Medium intensity on the nose, focusing on the pure primary fruit. Dry on the palate, with crisp acidity and medium body. A Greek white wine from Santorini. This blend of Assyrtiko, Athiri, and Aidani is deliciously fragrant and full of tropical fruits and fresh florals, with lithe minerals on the end. Fruit-forward and fresh, this is an ideal match for white meats or seafood."

The Wine
90% Assyrtiko, 5% Athiri, 5% Aidani
From ungrafted 10-60 year old vines
Fermented and matured in steel tank

Looking for a great alternative to Chablis? Assyrtiko is a Greek varietal grown primarily on the windswept island of Santorini. The grape offers lean minerality and high acidity, but is not quite as steely or austere as Chablis can be. This particular bottling is rounded out by 10% of two other Greek natives - Athiri and Aidani. These grapes add just a touch of additional fruit and floral softness on the palate. The wine compliments all manner of Mediterranean dishes from taramasalata, to grilled fish or Kebabs. It also pairs well with warm summer evenings in general.

The Estate
The current landholdings exceed 120 ha, a vast, four-generations-long investment. The magnitude of this commitment can only be understood only when someone takes into account the fact that, in Santorini, there are numerous, far more lucrative uses of land readily available, and, sadly, more frequently preferred.

Estate Argyros vineyards are old, even by Santorini standards. The average vine age exceeds 70 years, while the oldest parcels of the estate are more than two centuries old. The average yields, on a plentiful vintage, rarely gets higher than 21 hl/ha, an impressively, if not catastrophically, low number, matched by very few wines around the world.

Estate Argyros works almost exclusively with old vines because only these vineyards can provide the depth, the definition and the concentration needed to produce the desired style of wine. Work in the vineyard is meticulous, with hundreds of man-hours per year per hectare since every single vine is considered a unique organism. Timing of harvest is carefully determined plot by plot, in order to pick at optimum ripeness, eschewing the problem of over-ripeness, a frequent Siren in the vineyards of Santorini.

Estate Argyros is an artisan producer crafting small quantities of top-quality wines. The recipe in the cellar is that there is no recipe, with each plot being harvested, vinified, and aged separately until very late in the production process. Each plot is treated with the required sensitivity, in order to express its birthplace, while achieving purity and elegance. To achieve the quintessential Argyros style, patience is required, and many wines are kept in the cellars for years or, in the case of the Vinsantos, decades, so the winery has been designed to accommodate for such a vision. Oak, mainly in the form of old and large French oak barrels, is always used to underline the character of a wine, never to create it.

Estate Argyros vines are farmed organically, without using pesticides. Each vineyard work is done manually, apart from ploughing, carried out by mules. The vines are not irrigated and most of the additions in the vineyard are by products of the wine making process, like composted stems and grape skins.

The Estate Argyros winery was also designed with true respect to the Santorini landscape and aesthetics, while being environmentally friendly and energy efficient.

The Santorini grape varieties have been shaped by the unique environment of the island, something that can be traced in the individuality of their character. These varieties attract attention from wine lovers and vine growers around the world, with increasing plantings not just in Greece but in other countries and other continents. Assyrtiko, together with Mavrotragano and Aidani, are the heritage grapes of Santorini that deserve total dedication and resilience.