Why Santorini wine is different
Almost nothing should grow here. There's barely any rain, the summer sun is relentless, and the soil is volcanic ash and pumice with no clay to hold water. Yet the vines thrive — because they've adapted. Roots dig deep for moisture, and the grapes drink the morning sea mist that rolls over the island at dawn. The ash also kept the dreaded phylloxera louse out, so many vines grow on their own ancient rootstock, some more than 200 years old.
The signature here is kouloura training: instead of trellises, growers coil each vine into a low basket on the ground, with the grapes nestled inside, sheltered from the fierce wind and sun. The grape is Assyrtiko — naturally high in acid, intensely mineral, and bone dry. Bottled straight, it's one of the great white wines of the Mediterranean, and it tastes unmistakably of this rock and this sea.