2020: The yield of the Santorini vineyard returns to normal production levels

This year’s production reached the annual average of Santorini, with grapes of exceptional quality, bringing back the smile to vine cultivators’ faces, who last year witnessed their production to barely reach the 45% of the annual average, due to bad weather conditions.

The harvest, showing a slight delay, started on August 4 and evolved into a calendar as shown in the table below.

All varieties from all the vineyards were harvested by hand.

DATE  |  VARIETY (type)

4 August  |  Assyrtiko (white) For the sparkling wine from plots in Pyrgos village

8 August  |  Athiri (white)

12 August  |  Assyrtiko (white)

12 August  |  Mavrotragano and Voudomato (red)

25 August  |  Aidani (white)

29 August  |  Mandilaria (red)

Climatic conditions

Winter: Mild with a few moderate rainfalls, that helped the soil to hydrate. The total volume of rain from September 2019 to July 2020 was 329.8 mm (570.4 mm during the corresponding period of last year).

Spring: Warm, with poor rainfall (65 mm). The winds were moderate throughout the season, with one exception on April 16th when strong north winds affected partially the northern parts of Santorini vineyard.

Summer: Typical insular climate, without extremely high temperatures (25oC average). Brisk north winds were blowing all day and during the night from July 5th, which contributed to the good health of the fruits. The intense air humidity during August delayed slightly the ripening. Absence of heat waves

Overall, it was a particularly good year, especially in Spring time that is the most crucial for the production. The vines gave us healthy grapes with ripeness of good quality due to the lack of serious diseases.

The production of 2020:  Winemaking and Estimates

The total production of the year was about 2,500 tons of grapes, reaching the typical average production.

As every year, this year also has the prerequisites for producing high-quality wines.

The musts, which are now in the process of completing the fermentation, show that once again we will have an excellent result.

Aromatic bouquet of white flowers, citrus fruits such as lemon, grapefruit and white flesh fruits such as banana, melon, peach and pear.

Pronounced flavors on the palate with crisp acidity in combination with the characteristic flinty minerality of Santorini.

The wines are expected to be well structured with full body, with great acidity and intense mineral character

The alcohol by volume laying between 13 to 14.5%, the acidity (depending on the level of maturation) varying from 6 to 7 gr/lt and pH from 3.0  to 3.1, ensure that, once again, this year's wines have great ageing potential.

Nikos Varvarigos
Wine maker – Production Dpt Director