mumura

I’m just returning from 6 lovely days on the beautiful island of Santorini. For those of you that have been before, we stayed in Pyrgos which is away from the major tourist areas of Fira and Ia. Major bonus was that, without planning it, we ended up right in the middle of fields of vines! Not hard to do given just how much of the island is covered with these little bush trained vines.

We stayed at a gorgeous place with only 10 or so rooms (more like villas really) called Carpe Diem. We had our own private terrace overlooking the island and the vineyards.  I had found it through the travel site VoyagePrive.com which offers discounts at luxury travel sites (likeliving social for travel) and thus got a few things thrown in for free like a bottle of wine in our room. Every morning we had a ridiculously amazing breakfast brought to our room. Seriously – it was hard to beat. Greek yogurt & honey, Greek pie (my favorite new dish – feta cheese, egg & milk baked in a filo dough bottom crust. Yes, we did ask for the recipe…and yes I am turning into my mother), fresh Greek cheeses, fresh fruit, croissants & fresh bread, eggs, bacon, etc. Just thinking about it is making me gain more weight…

Positives:
-Breakfast as I have already belabored above
-Topless sunbathing is fantastic and having seclusion is even better
-Views of the island from your terrace with the ocean on both sides is just brilliant – you feel so small and peaceful
-Free room service rocks. You still have to pay for what they bring you but the service itself was free. Brilliant.

Negatives:
-Crying babies have no place in a small boutique hotel. I know I am being incredibly lame but seriously – why would you bring a very small baby to a hotel catered completely to adults? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear my sister telling me to be fair and that people with babies need to go on holiday too but really, at least pick a hotel that is set up to accommodate
-People peering onto your terrace being nosy deserve the eyeful they get – particularly if they don’t want it
-As we were away from the main areas and there are very few sidewalks on the roads, we had to get cabs everywhere which added an unexpected cost. Luckily the prices are standard on the island (even though they are sky high) so there wasn’t any negotiation.

Now on to the WINES!
While we were on the island, we wandered around the major areas and hit up two wineries: Hatzidakis and Sigalas. In general, the white wine and much of the red on the island is extremely high in acid. If not careful, this can completely overpower the fruit. We tasted some crackers where the winemakers were able to make refreshingly acidic, fruity and balanced wines.

The Hatzidakis winery was a trip – a truly authentic experience of a winemaker, passionate about his wine and not about presentation. We walked from our hotel in search of this winery, only to find a run down trailer sitting on a small field of vines with what looked like a lot of old, disused farm equipment. Upon closer inspection we discovered the grape press and knew that this was indeed a winery. After milling around for a while trying to knock on doors in the obviously abandoned trailer, a car pulled up. We were greeted by a man who spoke little English (and we embarrassingly knew nothing in Greek so muddled through a series of hand gestures to indicate we wanted to try his wines). After a bit of confusion he obliged by handing us two stained glasses and escorting us through the farm door, down a dank dark cellar and through another door into the storage room. The pictures show the story better than my words – but at this stage I was pretty excited. We were able to try three of his wines straight from the barrels. The main grape on the island is Assyrtiko so I was not surprised that this was his main production. However, he did have an awesome 100% Aidani (generally used for blending with Assyrtiko) that I’ve given notes on below – by far the best wine I tried on the island. We walked away carrying bottles of his wine with big smiles on our faces.

                             

The most elegant, more-ish wine I tried:
Aidani 2011, Hatzidakis Winery in Pyrgos, €14 at cellar door
Generous stone fruit of peaches with nicely blended lemon, medium body and impressive finish. Acidity is ridiculously high but this was a rare example of a wine balancing strong fruit with the acid so that is wasn’t completely overpowered. Aged in stainless steel vats down in the dank musty cellar of this vineyard – that didn’t really feel like a safe place for two young women to walk into – but boy was it worth it!!

The second winery was Sigalas, a more established and albeit more elegantly presented winery. It was set up for the tourists and catered to the bus-style crowd. That said, we arrived when there were no other tasters around (yes, it was first thing in the morning – just before noon – and yes, we are ‘early risers’ when it comes to wine) and got a prime seat outside in the Santorini sun overlooking the vines and the sea view. The vineyard was just outside of IA, the main tourist area, on a gently sloping field benefiting from the sea air and much gentler winds than the vineyards in Pyrgos. The wines here were charged by the taste but we came on the lucky Sunday (yes, Sunday) where the tastes were free and all bottles 20% off. While I enjoyed the wines, it was a different experience and I ended up only taking home a bottle of the Vin Santo – a wine famous and exclusive to Santorini made of sun-dried white grapes. Overall another fun experience.

Also, I wanted to share one red wine I bought at the supermarket and drank at our hotel on the terrace. It was a yummy example of a nicely finished wine. Many of the reds were a bit off – though we found that when you just ordered the “house wine” by the litre (yes. I know.) it was often very nice and served lightly chilled. Given the heat, this was a welcome thing.

And so now I am back in London. Sun-smacked and with a few extra pounds (feta really does instantly attach itself to your body – proven). I am now officially on a detox, walking to work every day and eating healthy whole grain foods with no bread or cheese… at least until I head to Paris on Sunday…