Good quality but hard to find grapes.

This year's yield of the Santorini vineyard reached only 30% compared to the annual average production.

Chronology

The start date of the harvest was late this year for any winery, with the chronology being as follows:
START OF HARVEST VARIETY (TYPE)

7 August Assyrtiko (white) for sparkling wine from the Pyrgos area
16 August Athiri (white)
19 August Assyrtiko (white)
17 August Mavrotragano and Voudomato (red)
29 August Aidani(white)
29 August Mandilaria (red)

All the varieties from all the vineyards were harvested by hand.

Climatic conditions during the year:
Winter: Mild with little rainfall (114 mm). Total rainfall from September 2022 to July 2023 was 188 mm (322 mm during the same period last year).
Spring: Cold and occasionally frosty, with several rains until 2 June (74 mm), No destructive southerly winds, only 31 March and 1 April had strong northerly winds. 23 April there was a snowfall.
Summer: Typical island weather, with very high temperatures, persistent heat waves in July, and a lot of humidity which delayed ripening a lot.
Overall it was a special year, with all the bad things that could happen to the Santorini vineyard.
- Winter drought
- Strong north winds when the inflorescences were opening.
- A snowfall on 23 April that hit the south-eastern side, the area with the best vineyards on the island.
- Rains in the spring which helped the plants to grow stronger but also helped the growth of periwinkle.
- Cold and humidity despite the summer winds.
However, our winery gave the necessary plant protection instructions to our vineyard members and a strict sorting of the few grapes was done so that we could have a good result in the end.

The 2023 production

The total production this year barely exceeded 1,000 tons of grapes. This means that we had a very small production for the vineyard of Santorini. There have been smaller ones, however, in 1991 and 1994.
Winemaking and estimates: Despite all the problems mentioned above, this year also has the prerequisites for the production of wines with high quality characteristics.
This year's Santorini, as always, are expected to be aromatically intense and pleasant. Currently in our tanks are presented with:
- An aromatic bouquet of white flowers, citrus fruits such as lemon and grapefruit, and white-fleshed fruits such as melon, peach and pear.
- Nervous mouthfeel with intense acidity combined with the typical Santorini minerality.
- Rich and full-bodied with particular intensity.

The alcohol content ranging from 13 - 14%, the acidity ranging from 6 to 6.5 gr/lt (expressed in tartaric acid), depending on the degree of maturity, and the pH from 3.00 to 3.20, make us feel confident that the 2023 vintage will be worthy of the high quality of Santorini's wines with the ability to stand the taste of time.

Source KEOSOE