The vineyard of Santorini is ancient, with ancient varieties. The findings found in the excavations of the prehistoric city of Akrotiri, as confirmed by a professor at the University of Athens and head of the excavations at Akrotiri, Mr. Doumas, are direct testimonies for the cultivation of Thira (Santorini), at least before the 17th century BC.
This prehistoric vineyard was destroyed by the great eruption of the volcano around 1,620 BC.The vineyard in the new volcanic territory is rebuilt along with the island’s re-occupation around 1200 BC. It is no exaggeration to characterize the vineyard of Santorini, a vineyard of “three thousand years old”, since it has been cultivated uninterrupted ever since, and vine and wine have been at the core of the island’s economic, social and cultural life for centuries.
The vines are sporadic (they were not destroyed by the phylloxera epidemic), over fifty years old. Its renewal from antiquity to the present day is done in the same way that it is, the “downside” technique. That is to say, in place of the dead vine, a branch is placed, which the grower takes from the neighboring vine, having first laid it on the ground, at a depth of about thirty centimeters.
The first years this new vine is fed by the “mother vine” and after 3-5 years, which has its own roots, it is cut off from the branch belonging to the branch and thus the new vine is created. Of course, to apply this method of renewal, the vineyard must be self-rooting and not endangered by the phylloxera epidemic.
An ancient and unique Vineyard
The particular territory of Santorini that protected the vineyard from the phylloxera epidemic, with the result that the vineyards are among the few in the world vineyard, the age of the vineyard being over 3,000 years old, the age of the vineyards over Years old, the unique pruning as well as the unique ancient varieties, make all the above, the vineyard of Santorini, a historic vineyard, a vineyard Museum.
Beyond its historical dimension, this vineyard is a vineyard that today produces unique wines, high quality wines, which, aging, express this unique Santorini land, this unique one.