Assyrtiko, the wine grape behind the hauntingly firm dry whites of the volcanic Greek island of Santorini, is a good example of a lesser-known grape that, once tasted, is never forgotten. It magically combines something saline and mineral with something citrus, as well as tension and a wondrous ability to develop even more complexity in the bottle. This despite the fact that growing seasons in its homeland are notoriously hot, almost impossibly dry and inhospitably windy.
Santorini, with its unforgettable sunsets and whitewashed towns that cling to cliffsides, is above all a holiday island. Each year, about half a million visitors arrive at the international airport apparently unfazed by the fact that the last eruption was barely 70 years ago. Vines have had to compete with developers to stay in the ground.
Australian winemaker Peter Barry of Jim Barry Wines in Clare Valley sipped his first Assyrtiko over a lunch on the island in 2006. He was not only taken by the taste but convinced that if the grape could produce such crisp, absorbing wine on Santorini, it would probably thrive back home in South Australia too. At the London Wine Fair the following year, he made it his business to taste as many Assyrtikos as possible. He was so impressed that the complicated business of getting the vine variety, completely new to Australia, through many years of quarantine before being planted there was no deterrent. The first commercial vintage of Jim Barry Assyrtiko was 2016, and the wine goes from strength to strength.
At more or less the same time, South Africa’s famous vine nurturer Rosa Kruger toured Europe with a view to identifying Mediterranean grape varieties that thrive in a hot, dry climate. She brought back bottles of wines made from a range of grapes, including Assyrtiko and the Spanish varieties Mencía and Viura, to taste with the team at Vititec, the official Cape vine nursery. They were sufficiently impressed by the Assyrtikos to import cuttings — better quality than the reference samples already in the national vine collection at Nietvoorbij in Stellenbosch — and, like Barry, to embark on a long quarantine process.
The eventual result is that South Africa’s first commercial Assyrtikos have recently been released by Jordan Wine Estate, and by Chris and Andrea Mullineux. According to Chris, they planted the Assyrtiko along with Macabeo, Verdelho, Vermentino and a few other varieties, and it has been the Assyrtiko that has excited them most so far as a standalone variety. He says that the others have a lot of interest as components for blending; the Verdelho has an incredible acidity, for example. But “it’s the Assyrtiko which was just beautiful, complex and complete on its own — textured and fresh with lovely aromatics at normal ripeness”.
The Mullineuxs’ Swartland neighbour Eben Sadie, arguably an even more famous new-wave producer, has also planted many of these Mediterranean imports. Sadie reports that the Assyrtiko he planted in the Paardeberg and on the west coast in St Helena Bay is already “showing immense promise”.
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