Greece is one of the oldest wine - producing regions in the world and among the first wine-producing territories in Europe. The earliest evidence of Greek wine has been dated to 6,500 years ago where wine was produced on a household or communal basis. In ancient times, as trade in wine became extensive, it was transported from end to end of the Mediterranean; Greek wine had especially high prestige in Italy under the Roman Empire . In the medieval period, wines exported from Crete , Monemvasia and other Greek ports fetched high prices in northern Europe.
7-563: Assyrtiko or Asyrtiko is a white Greek wine grape indigenous to the island of Santorini . Assyrtiko is widely planted in the arid volcanic-ash-rich soil of Santorini and other Aegean islands, such as Paros . It is also found on other scattered regions of Greece such as Chalkidiki . Assyrtiko is also being grown by the Paicines Ranch Vineyard in the San Benito AVA of California with Margins Wine making
14-477: A Wine Institute was established by the Ministry of Agriculture. During the 1960s, retsina suddenly became the national beverage. With rapidly growing tourism, retsina became associated worldwide with Greece and Greek wine. Greece's first Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard was planted in 1963. In 1971 and 1972, legislation established appellation laws. A system of appellations was implemented to assure consumers
21-539: Is very ripe . Throughout Greece, the grape is vinified to make a variety of dry and sweet wines , including Vinsanto -like musky and syrup-sweet dessert wines . In Retsina , it is often blended with the less-acidic Savatiano grape. Assyrtiko is also known under the synonyms Arcytico, Assirtico, Assyrtico, Asurtico, and Asyrtiko. Greek wine The origins of wine -making in Greece go back 6,500 years and evidence suggesting wine production confirm that Greece
28-512: Is home to the second oldest known grape wine remnants discovered in the world and the world's earliest evidence of crushed grapes. As Greek civilization spread through the Mediterranean , wine culture followed. The Ancient Greeks introduced vines such as Vitis vinifera and made wine in their numerous colonies in Italy , Sicily , southern France , and Spain . In 1937,
35-442: The early 2000s. On Santorini, many old vine plantations (over 70 years of age) of Assyrtiko exist, of which many are non-grafted. These plantations have shown resistance to Phylloxera . As the only European grape vine known to be resistant to wine blight , there is speculation that the actual source of this resistance may arise from the volcanic ash in which the vines grow, and not from the vine itself. The mineral profile of
42-452: The grape bodes well for blending and in recent times it has been blended often with Sauvignon blanc , Sémillon and Malagousia . Assyrtiko grapes clusters are large, with transparent yellow-gold skin and juicy flesh. In the volcanic soil of Santorini, there appear to be some unique characteristics that develop in the grape variety , and therefore in the wine. One of these characteristics is that Assyrtiko does not lose its acidity even if it
49-768: The wine, by Jim Barry Wines in Clare Valley , South Australia , at the Abbey of New Clairvaux in Northern California since 2011, and at Kefi Winery in Monroe, North Carolina by a first generation Greek family. The original Assyrtiko cuttings were imported in the USA in 1948 by Harold Olmo , grape breeder at the University of California, Davis , where they were stored until the abbey of New Clairvaux took interest in
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