Peter Pharos in his timatkin.com bimonthly column, reported on the Assyrtikos of Santorini and the recent events that made a huge impact on 2021 vintage. Such as the pandemic followed by the tandem crises of energy prices and supply chains, pushing costs up and material availability down and thepunishing heatwaves in June and July of 2021.

Matthaios Argyros, owner of the island’s leading winery, painted a picture of a once-in-a-lifetime event, saying that nobody he spoke to recalled ever seeing a July heatwave such as 2021’s. Estate Argyros created mini-shock waves in that part of the world when it declared it wouldn’t bottle any single-vineyard wines for 2021, channelling everything to the main Santorini instead, in order to uphold that label’s quality standards. 

Among the issues covered, Peter Pharos highlights the fact that the availability of Santorini Assyrtiko with a bit of age on the market, has demonstrated the variety’s ageing potential to a wider audience. 

The most exciting news, however, comes from Argyros. Their cellar portfolio of Vinsanto goes back to 1947, and Matthaios has hinted they might be looking to bottle some vintages in the near future. If so, the first undisputed unicorn of Greek wine will have certainly arrived. 

The results of the writers tasting also rewarded Estate Argyros with top  distictions such as Producer of the Year, Vinsanto of the Year &Santorini Assyrtiko of the Year.

Read the full article here: Santorini Assyrtiko 2022 Report