Domaine Sigalas is the closest winery to our base in Oia, the Northernmost point of Santorini. It is a very pleasant walk via the village of Finikia with its excellent restaurant Meze Meze.

Sigalas was founded in 1991 by Paris Sigalas a maths teacher.It has been sold recently.

They predominantly make Assyrtiko and other indigenous whites like Athiri and Aidani. Red varietals include Mavrotragano and Mandilaria. More recently they have been exploring the subtle terroir variations of seven individual villages of Santorini.

Paris is seen as  a visionary and established the first vertically trained vineyards on the Island, almost heretical at the time.

They have almost 40 hectares of vineyard and produce nearly 200,000 bottles.

Santorini 2020

The wine spends six months on lees in stainless steel barrels.

2020 is apparently great year previous years from 2017 to 2019 suffered heat waves.

A nose of lemon rind and sea salt.

Medium body high acidity, great balance. Lively fresh pithy flavours with a tangy salty nice lingering finish.

Epta (7) Villages

One of a series of seven single vineyard wines exploring the terroir of different regions of the island.  Made in stainless steel barrels but aged on lees through to next harvest. 

Floral blossom notes some citrus underneath.

Some tinned peach at first followed by ripe lemon pith and characteristic herbal salty finish like rosemary salted fries! Again medium body high acid. Great length. Lovely!

Santorini Barrel 2020

Aged6 months in French oak barrels on lees. One in six are new oak and the rest second and third year.

Subtle vanilla and toast on the nose tiny hint of nice petrol. 

In the mouth nice blend of oak and lemon peel, lovely full silky mouth feel, full bodied but with lift and long. 

Nychteri. 2019

Kiran-

Traditionally late harvest, 18 months in oak. 6 grams residual sugar l so only just dry. 

Nose of perfume spicy, sweet, nutty and of course vanilla – Coco Channel like!

Round and full bodied a definite sweetness.

Rich spicy fruit, medium plus sweetness, and endless length. Extremely complex. 

Adam –
From select grapes picked during the night

Aged for longer on lees

Rich highly textured deeper colour

Honeyed feels like a hint of residual sugar

Really smooth and complex, length++

Delicious +++++

Spyros Recommends aging 6-7 years. Salty mineral character keeps building and fruit falls away. 

Reds

Mavrotragano 2019 

Kiran -Mavrotragano was traditionally grown in the same way as Assyrtiko trained into low but struggled to ripen evenly. Sigalas and Hatzidakis began to train the vines in low linear runs and to irrigate to help ripen the grapes fully and demonstrate the potential of this indigenous grape.

On the nose lots of berries, blueberry and a little smoke then also some red berries and perhaps a bit of cheesecake. 

Very appealing and tasty, medium plus body, medium acidity, medium soft tannin experienced upper lip.  Ripe Fruity flavours with lashings of toast and vanilla but not overwhelming.  Drinking beautifully. 

Adam- Sigalas red 18 months in oak Mavrotragano 3 percent vineyard area

First vertical vineyards on island,

Plums, berries spice complexity

Lots of fresh red fruit and blueberries

Good Length a hint of spice, cumin.

Mavrotragano – Mandilaria 2019

Mandilaria blend with Mavrotragano.

18 months in oak Mandilara has high acidity but high tannin so good for a blend. 

Nice chewy mix of strawberries and cream with a savoury herby bite. 

The food from the restaurant at Sigalas is a fine match with their excellent wines.

We highly recommend the seafood risotto which you must call in advance and reserve as limited amounts made. It was also interesting to taste the caper leaves and stems which were slight aromatic and more delicious than capers themselves.