📍 Aegean Islands

The Aegean Islands are a group of windy islands in Greece, from Lemnos in the north to Rhodes in the south. The sea is warm, summers are hot and dry, and strong winds protect the vines from disease. Soils are volcanic and stony.

The main wine islands are Santorini, Samos, Lemnos, Rhodes and Paros, along with the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, Lesbos, Ikaria and Kos. On Santorini grows Assyrtiko, which makes a fresh, mineral white wine. Samos and Lemnos are known for sweet wines from Muscat grapes. Vines are often trained low, in baskets or bushes, so that the wind does not break the shoots or dry the berries.

The islands belong to Greek wine. Plots are small, yields modest and the vineyards sometimes very old. Some escaped phylloxera, so the vines grow on their own roots. Island wines are drunk in summer on the coast with fish and seafood.