A Different Drop: Enter Assyrtiko!


WORDS: Peter Panousis - @peterpanwine PHOTOGRAPHY Supplied

The spotlight is on whites now that spring has sprung. Bring on the aromatic whites for afternoon delights, and to accompany lighter-style dinners.

With winter well and truly behind us and spring now here, it’s time to try something a little different to the drinking program. I am a seasonal drinker, meaning I prefer white wine during the warmer months and reds during winter. Move over reds (kidding of course) and bring on the aromatic whites for afternoon delights and to accompany lighter-style dinners. Normally, during the warmer months I like to tuck into Riesling, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Gris or even a fresh lightly oaked Sav Blanc but it’s time for something completely different. Enter Assyrtiko!

What is Assyrtiko?

Assyrtiko is a key aromatic white grape variety that tends to produce fresh crisp dry wines.  The grape dates back over 3500 years to ancient Greece and hails from the volcanic island of Santorini.  With over 1110 hectares planted in Santorini, many of the Assyrtiko vines are aged between 70 and 120 years old.  Further, the variety is widely planted throughout Greece and many parts of the world.

According to recent DNA tests and profiling findings suggests the parents to Assyrtiko are both a Platini grape that is early ripening, high yielding and resistant to botrytis while having notes of lime and orange and the other variety called Gaidouria an aromatic, early ripening, disease resistant and is low yielding.

Unfortunately, the parents of these two varieties mentioned above still remain unknown however, Assyrtiko is appealing to plant because it has inherited
these characteristics from its parents.

Specifically, Assyrtiko grapes are yellow-golden in colour, medium in size, thick-skinned and form large clusters.  The grapes are both late budding and late ripening and are very productive and vigorous with a high resistance to drought. Wines made with Assyrtiko have lime, apple and stone fruit characteristics and sometimes passionfruit, but usually with a minerally edge. Sometimes they have flint and or briny notes, crisp piercing acidity and flavours that I liken to an Eden Valley Riesling. As a wine, Assyrtiko tends to be made bone dry although there are dessert wine examples from Santorini called Vinsanto. Further, wine made from Assyrtiko tends to be light to medium in weight, usually with low tannins but with piercing acidity.

The variety is also known to produce medium to high levels of alcohol, which makes it a very food-friendly wine with notes of lime, citrus, passionfruit and sometimes flint with pronounced minerality and saline characteristics not unlike Vermentino. In riper vintages, the variety can develop stone fruit and melon nuances and will develop a more fruit-forward taste and have a richer body, but this will depend on how it is treated by the winemaker.

Also, due to the high levels of acidity, Assyrtiko can age particularly well. It can be made both unoaked (which is my preferred style), partially oaked or fully oaked (like Chardonnay) and there are examples of wines made with lees stirring, providing both creaminess and texture. In Greece, Assyrtiko can be blended with other native varieties too, but this does not dilute from this amazing variety.

Where does Assyrtiko grow best?

Assyrtiko is found worldwide, but arguably the best of the variety is found in Greece with over 2000 hectares planted. Nearly half of that quantity is grown in Santorini, a volcanic island off the coast of the mainland located in the southern Aegean Sea, and of course, is the spiritual home of the variety.

Assyrtiko in Santorini was granted PDO status in 1971, thus ensuring the highest quality and traditional methods are preserved and practised. The island is quite small, roughly 15km long and 10km wide, and Santorini soils are low in fertility and consist of lava and volcanic ash and are responsible for producing minerally, dry and crisp Assyrtiko. Rainfall is pretty low too on the island and there are very few consecutive days of rain, hence the grapes are usually grown on dry blocks with low to no irrigation. On the mainland, Assyrtiko is grown throughout the country in low and high fertile soils and from cooler climates in the north of Greece to the warmer climates in the south.

The one thing that remains constant is elevation throughout Greece, usually around 300 – 800 metres. Assyrtiko from the mainland tends to be fruitier and less briny than the ones from Santorini.

Outside of Greece, Assyrtiko is planted in South Africa, Cyprus, Lebanon, Italy, the USA, France and Australia, just to name a few countries. South Africa’s take-up has been very convincing as supported by Jancis Robinson’s web page and she wrote “South Africa’s first commercial Assyrtiko has just been released by Jordan winery.

The winery planted the variety along with Macabeo, Verdelho, Vermentino and a few other varieties in early 2000. The other varieties have a lot of interest but it’s the Assyrtiko which was just beautiful, complex and complete on its own – textured and fresh with lovely aromatics at normal ripeness.”

In Italy, the world-class and biodynamic organic winery Alois Lageder in Alto Adige has been instrumental in growing Assyrtiko since the
mid-2000s and released 600 bottles in 2015.

Unfortunately, legislation forbids the grape to be listed on the labels but their wines are made from grapes sourced at altitudes of 300 metres and are oak matured producing dry and fresh wines.  From Cyprus, the Dafermou winery is a modern world-class one established in 2007 and produces about 8500 dozen a year of Assyrtiko.  Their Assyrtiko is dry and traditionally made, and shows all the nuances of Santorini Assyrtiko.

In the US, Assyrtiko was added to the University of California’s vine-variety collection as long ago as 1948, but it has taken decades for it to catch on.

The first harvest for the Paicines Ranch Vineyard in San Benito County, south of San Francisco was in 2021. It is a uniquely designed polyculture vineyard and Greek grape-grower family to the children of Greek immigrants. More recently, the Sandlands vineyards and wineries in Lodi and Contra Costa County have been focussing on Assyrtiko too.

As Jancis Robinson notes regarding France “…perhaps the most surprising example of its being valued outside its homeland is that, according to producer Charles Philipponnat, Assyrtiko has proved one of the most successful imported vine varieties to have been trialled by the authorities in Champagne.

I spent a few days on the island in September and tasted evidence that Assyrtiko can indeed make very respectable sparkling wine.”

This speaks volumes for Assyrtiko and is clearly held in high regard. Here in Australia, the variety is doing well but is very scarce with only a small number of producers.  However, by far the most referenced is the Jim Barry Assyrtiko grown in the Clare Valley, South Australia who grow the variety on both trellised vines and in traditional basket style.

Why Assyrtiko?

Assyrtiko offers an alternative to traditional aromatic varieties. So, if you are like me wanting something new, then Assyrtiko will be welcomed at your table. Assyrtiko suits people who are after non-conventional wine varieties with intense flavours and texture. The variety is extremely food friendly suiting pan-fried and barbecued meat, seafood, fish and shellfish.  Therefore, it suits our climate and lifestyles and a variety of meals and cuisines. Also, the wine can be made in many styles, from dry steely and minerally with no oak, to textured creamy and oaked like a Chardonnay. One can even enjoy it made as a late-picked dessert-style wine too. They are age-worthy and can be drunk young and fresh, right through to aged and matured. Note Assyrtiko is not cheap and can retail from around $40 to $100 and more.

What to Consider

From the mainland of Greece, one must try Skouras Assyrtiko.  The Skouras winery was established in 1986 and is located in Nemea, a southern region of Greece (Peloponnese region). The winery is ultra-modern and equipped with winemaking facilities, a cellar, a bottling area and reception halls, surrounded by art, to receive
guests. George Skouras who founded the winery was trained at the University of Dijon in France graduating with a degree in Oenology. The Grapes are sourced from the Peloponnese region which is regarded as a warm climate from soils that are poor including clay, loam, gravel and sand. The Assyrtiko is grown in red clay from altitudes of 600 metres, and are whole bunch pressed and stirred on lees for 4 months receiving no malolactic fermentation or oak treatment. The wine
is clear in colour, and there are notes of green apple, citrus and saline on both the nose and palate.  The body is quite weighty and rich with steely acidity and minerality providing great length. Well awarded, the wine has received a Silver Medal at the Decanter Wine Awards. Enjoy this wine with seafood such as oysters, fresh or cooked prawns, grilled chicken or pork chops.

From the Island of Santorini, try the Santo Assyrtiko – a super-premium wine of high quality. Santo wines were established in 1911. Currently, Santo wines represent over 1000 island cultivators, and they are committed to preserving the island’s unique traditional cultivations of the highest quality and PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) wines. The grapes are grown in old volcanic soils which are disease and phylloxera free. The vines are over 80 years old and completely dry-farmed, while the vines have been trained under the Kouloura system. This is where the vines are low to the ground and trained to grow in the shape of woven baskets – the grapes grow low to the ground and inside the basket protecting them from the fierce winds of Santorini. The wine is made from de-stemmed grapes and receives no
oak treatment.  The wine is lemon in colour with notes of stone fruit, lemon and citrus on both the nose and palate. The body is medium in weight revealing more complex layers of fruit and piercing acidity and saline minerality to the end. Again, the wine pairs well with seafood and grills. Oh, and the wine has picked up multiple awards and medals from shows including a Bronze Medal from the Decanter Wine Show.

Last but not least, from the land Down Under, try Jim Barry’s Assyrtiko. One of the few but best examples of Assyrtiko grown and made in Australia. Jim Barry began making his own wines in the late 1960’s, establishing the winery and cellar door in 1973. It is a five red star winery as listed by James Halliday and since his passing in 2004, his son Peter runs the winery now. In 2006 while visiting Santorini, Peter tried his first glass of Santorini Assyrtiko and his words were “It strengthened my belief that the variety had real potential in Australia. I then discovered there wasn’t a single vine in the country, so I started to investigate importing cuttings.” In
2011, Peter was able to collect 32 buds from these two mother vines, which were then grafted onto 30 Riesling vines at two vineyards in the
Clare Valley. This initial grafting was successful and in 2014 enough fruit was provided to produce 15 litres of Assyrtiko. This is a cracker of a wine and has gone from strength to strength over the years.

Enjoy and happy but safe drinking.  You can catch Peter on Facebook,
Twitter & Instagram as @peterpanwine.