Santorini’s Assyrtiko wines have become world-famous. These powerful, mineral whites are made by some of the biggest names in Greek wine, with all the technology at their disposal. But the most exciting Assyrtiko we’ve tasted is made simply, by one man working his own vineyards. The man is Spyros Chryssos, and there’s a case for saying that his is the only true vigneron project on the island.
Santorini has a winemaking heritage most places can only dream of, with very old vines planted in phylloxera-resistant soils, an exceptional native grape variety, and a history of production stretching back thousands of years. But it also has problems. More than 80% of vineyard land has been lost since the Second World War, and the majority of Santorini producers have to buy fruit from a patchy network of amateur viticulturists.
Spyros Chryssos is different. He is perhaps the only grower on Santorini to exclusively farm his own vineyards, and to make his own wine, his way. And what vineyards. A fourth generation grower, he has inherited old Assyrtiko vines in some of the best sites on the island. In that respect he’s fortunate, but he deserves all the credit for the way he chooses to work. Inspired by the pioneering Haridimos Hatzidakis (a relation), he is strictly organic in the vineyard, ferments only with wild yeasts, and keeps sulphur levels low. Locally, it’s an unheard of combination, and it makes Spyros’s Akra Chryssos wines some of the purest and best examples of old vine Assyrtiko in the world.
Drink these wines, and you get all that’s great about Santorini Assyrtiko, and more. There is the saline, mineral quality, the power, and the obvious ageing potential. But thanks to the way they are made, there is also an extra dimension - an open texture and an approachability that marks them out as very special.
