Grape · Santorini, Greece
Assyrtiko
ah-SEER-tee-ko
Volcanic steel
Santorini's gift: bone-dry, high-acid, saline whites grown in basket-trained vines on volcanic pumice. One of the great terroir grapes of the last twenty years.
- lemon
- smoke
- saline
- wet stone
- citrus peel
Profile
Bodymedium
Acidhigh
Sugardry
Assyrtiko keeps acid even in the Aegean sun. On Santorini the vines are coiled into kouloura baskets against the wind, ungrafted, sometimes a century old. The wines can taste like Chablis with a suntan and a lick of smoke.
Sweet Vinsanto from sun-dried Assyrtiko is a different, amber drink. Mainland Assyrtiko is cheaper and fruitier; the island is the point.
Grilled fish, feta, capers, and lemon. Serve cold.
At the table
Service
46–50 °F (8–10 °C).
