2012 Mavrotragano Grape from Santorini - 538 Wine Notes

Hatzidakis Winery

Hatzidakis Winery has come to be known over the years as Santorini’s answer to a cult winery. The style of the wines have always gravitated towards the pure and powerful, foregoing pure reductive winemaking which has become the international face of Santorini for more authentic and terroir driven expressions. Indeed single vineyard bottlings from the Mylos and Louros vineyards nestled between the villages of Pyrgos and Megalochori have set Hatzidakis Winery apart for their exploration of the terroir tapestry of Santorini which was once assumed to be homogenous.

Additionally, Hatzidakis has further distinguished himself by being the first to bottle monovarietal wines of the rare Aidani (2000 vintage) and even rarer Mavrotragano (1997 vintage simultaneously with Domaine Sigalas). Today Hatzidakis Winery is expanding out of it’s “garagiste” beginnings by building a new winery, a series of tunnels buried into a cleft of a ravine in Pyrgos on the way to Megalochori. While production still remains small, 7,500 cases of their entry Santorini bottling and a scant 200-300 cases per vintage of their other cuvees, Hatzidakis continues to both push the envelope on the exploration of Santorini’s rich patrimony of varieties and mico-climates while retaining a strong connection to the stylistic heritage of the island’s wines.

Hatzidakis Winery itself was started in 1997 after Haridimos met and married a local girl of the island, Konstantina. Konstantina's family owns vineyards in the village of Pyrgos Kallistis, on the road that leads to the monastery of Prophet Ilias. The land had not been cultivated since 1956, when the earthquake on Santorini forced her parents to leave the island for some time. After extensive re-planting and nurturing of older vines, they found a cave on the outskirts of Pyrgos Kallistis, which was transformed into a winery.

Varietals: 100% Mavrotragano

Region: Santorini

Appellation: P.G.I. Cyclades

Vine Age: 15-20 years

Vineyard: Antorini: Villages of Pyrgos, Megalochori and Akrotiri

Soil: Volcanic, pumice, igneous lava

Vinification: Higher maturation on the vines, cooling the grapes before crushing, destemmed, oak Maturation in barrels for 18 months and reductive ageing in stainless steel tanks for 5 months. Bottled manually, unfiltered with only a small amount of Sulphur.

Production: 550 cases.

Tasting Notes: Intense red color with bright hues. Red forest fruit aromas, bitter chocolate, tobacco and minerality. A muscular palate with a tannic character and long aftertaste.