2015 Domaine Sigalas "AA" Santorini 750 ml

Wine Advocate’s “Under-the-Radar Buy” and the Back Alleys of Oia

Navigating the steep and narrow alleyways that criss-cross the village of Oia requires an approach closer to hiking than walking. We were doing our best to stay on two feet en route to dinner at Dimitri’s when a burly figure with a head full of thick black hair greeted us from a white stucco doorframe. Whether he was speaking Greek or English with an accent thicker than his head of hair, we weren’t sure. Despite the language barrier, his warmth drew us in. 

We made a feeble effort to use our Rosetta Stone Greek skills, mentioning that we had come for “krasi,” wine. Hearing the word his eyes lit up. He beckoned us inside his home and despite our protests, we ended up around his kitchen table, glasses in hand. From the basement he produced a bottle of the 2014 Sigalas “AA” Santorini. He was surprised to find we already knew the wine — an ethereal mix of Santorini’s most famous grapes, Assyrtiko and Athiri, wildly aromatic with an extraordinary purity and vibrancy, plus 92 points from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate — we had it down. 

We sipped and swirled together with our friend whose name we couldn’t pronounce and by the time we finished the bottle, the bread, and the olives, it was nightfall. We wobbled the rest of the way to Dimitris.

Largely inaccessible, more barren and arid than perhaps any wine route in the world, grape-growing in the high ground of Santorini is carried out with Old World passion and ingenuity. The most distinctive features of Santorini’s volcanic viticulture are the stone terraces, or pezoules. Carefully constructed and engineered by vineyard masons at up to 3,000 feet in elevation, the terraces are supported by dry-stone retaining walls, and perform multiple functions, including sheltering vines from the wind, protecting fragile root structure, and allowing mature vines to slurp up precious water reserves deep in the substrata under the blistering Mediterranean sun. 

Domaine Sigalas’ rise to the top of the island has been relatively quick, as it was founded in 1991 by Paris Sigalas, Christos Markozane, and Yiannis Toundas. The Domaine marries Santorini’s ancient traditions with modern winemaking techniques in the state-of-the-art facility in Oia. They cultivate 19 hectares of natives grapes — mostly Assyrtiko — which beautifully express the unique, volcanic terroir of Santorini. 

When we tapped our friend Michael Madrigale — Wine Enthusiast’s #1 Sommelier in America — for his impression on the estate, he beamed, “On Santorini, three producers stand out far beyond the rest: Hatzidakis, Tselepos, and Sigalas.”

In 2015, The Wine Advocate doled out a second straight 92-point score to the Domaine Sigalas “AA” Santorini, along with serious praise: “An under-the-radar buy, this is very fine again this year, chock full of flavor and possessed of a long finish. What makes it more special, though, is the way it evolves in the glass with air and warmth, gradually showing more and more tension on the finish as well as an increasingly transparent demeanor. This is a beauty and a bargain, the equal of the 2014–and perhaps its better.” 

Once again, this is a MUST BUY. This kind of dry lemon vibrancy just doesn’t exist anywhere for $17.99 … except Santorini. 900 bottles up for grabs this morning, ONLY on WineAccess.