Santo Wines, The power of team work
Collectiveness, Quality, Authenticity, Sustainability
The Union of Santorini Cooperatives - Santo Wines was founded in its initial form in 1911, as “Santorini Vine & Wine Protection Fund”. Today, it consists of the largest organization of the island representing all the cultivators and counting 1.200 active members. Santo Wines is committed to safeguarding the local traditional cultivations, producing highest quality Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) Santorini wines and food products as well as promoting sustainable agriculture development. The traditional cultivations of the farmers-members of our cooperative, guarantee the authenticity and the premium quality of Santo products.
Fair Trade: The Union of Santorini Cooperatives was founded with the main purpose to protect the interests of the island's farmers. This aim remains until today. All its business activity is based on transparency and respect, contributes in many ways to the economic development of local community and ensures sustainable agricultural development in Santorini, offering better conditions of trade and safeguarding the rights of producers and workers.
Santo Wines’ R&D invests in the ongoing development of cultivation and vinification techniques, while aiming at the preservation of the biodiversity through the operation of a nursery of autochthonous varieties, a solid base for study and trial cultivation of local grapes.
Organic Vineyard: Santo Wines maintains a privately owned Organic Vineyard of 0,2 ha from which the single-variety Organic wines Aidani, Athiri and Mavrotragano are produced.
The promotion of all Santorini products is the most important mission of the Cooperative. PDO Santorini wines, PDO Santorini Tomato, PDO Santorini Fava, capers, caper leaves, as well as local sweet preserves, like tomato or Koufeto belong to the wide range of the Santo products of pure Santorini taste that is available for everyone to enjoy!
Santo’s facilities include the Winery, a Tomato Process Factory and the Wine Tourism Center. The gravity winery is among the state-of-the-art infrastructures in Greece, while the process factory of PDO Santorini Tomato, is nowadays the only active in the island. The Wine Tourism Center, with its exquisite location at the village of Pyrgos and the hospitality facilities of highest quality standards offering a breathtaking view of the Caldera, have established Santo Wines as one of the top wine-tourism destinations, welcoming more than 600k visitors from all over the world.
Wine - Protected Designation of Origin Santorini
Santorini has a well-known and flourishing wine industry. The wine production dates back thousands of years, approximately around the 3rd millennium BC. The vineyards have continuously produced wines for 4,000 years, save for a period of approximately three hundred years immediately after the volcanic eruption, where all life was eliminated due to the volcanic ash (known as “aspa”) and lava covering the island from side to side. Today, the vineyard of Santorini consists of approximately 1200 hectares of family-owned vineyards, which in their unique geographical conditions and cultivation techniques comprise part of Greece’s intangible cultural heritage.
Assyrtiko is the white grape variety that thrives in its birthplace, the volcanic land of Santorini.
