2018 Estate Argyros Assyrtiko Santorini Greece is sold out.

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96pt Gold Medal White

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  • 96 pts Decanter World Wine Awards
    96 pts DWWA
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2018 Estate Argyros Assyrtiko Santorini Greece 750 ml

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  • Curated by unrivaled experts
  • Choose your delivery date
  • Temperature controlled shipping options
  • Get credited back if a wine fails to impress

The Oyster Bar Ringer that Stunned Our Palate

While tasting through a flight of white wines matched with a dozen oysters, a lemon-gold mystery emerged as the best-in-class winner—and a knockout surprise.

When the bartender put the bottle on the marble counter, we were floored: this Decanter 96-point Greek white from the Aegean’s immortally beautiful Santorini completely flipped the script on what we expected, and gave justice to the modern craze for so-called “island wines.” With a citrus and white flower intensity born of 150-year-old vines coupled with preserved lemon and crushed mineral notes squeezed from harsh volcanic soil, it’s no wonder Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate called Argyros “an exceptional producer that everyone should know.”

This Decanter World Wine Awards Gold winner belongs in your battery of go-to whites when shellfish is on order, and would be equally delicious alongside an herb-crusted spring lamb or double-cut pork chop. No other wine in the category can touch it for price-to-value ratio. There’s really nothing else quite like it, period.

Alongside a platter of plump, buttery Humboldt Gold Kumamotos, the bartender at our favorite seafood joint had blind-poured the usual suspects as the happy hour chatter bounced off the checkerboard tile walls: Muscadet, Sancerre, blanc de blancs bubbly. She poured a ringer too—something that combined the steely acidity and sea spray minerality of Chablis with the incandescent citrus notes of a lively Sauvignon Blanc. Verve, complexity, herbaceous savory depth. The last thing we expected to find at the end of that sentence was Assyrtiko.

Argyros was founded in 1903—and the fourth-generation estate is a relative neophyte compared to its oldest vines, some of which date back 500 years and are as gnarled and magical as Gandalf’s staff. The average vine age is, astoundingly, 150 years old. Conditions you won’t find practically anywhere else on earth conspire to create this longevity, which is reflected in the wines and their Burgundy-like aging potential.

The soil here is downright hostile to the vines: It’s an inorganic mix of volcanic ash, sand, pumice, and lava, swept clean by extreme winds and purified by a relentlessly hot sun, which turns buildings here the color of bone. The harshness of the terroir not only produces exquisite concentration, but virtually erases the threat of phylloxera, so all vines are on their original rootstock. The soil also removes the need for most any pesticides or herbicides, resulting in purity and freshness that is preserved by vinification in stainless steel tanks.

For the incredible pedigree, critical acclaim, and otherworldly terroir, bring this island bottle home to find out why it’s a can’t miss go-to white.