Island Wines: a tasting of sweet wines from Tenerife, Pantellaria, Kefalonia and Santorini
Matteo Montone presented this seminar on sweet wines from islands, as part of the excellent Island Wines summit in Tenerife. We tasted five excellent wines, with a bit of context about the islands they come from. Sweet wines may be unfashionable, but when they are good they can be among the most profound of all wines.
We began with a wine from Tenerife, which is 55x 80 km in size with 3500 hectares under vine. Climate is subtropical with a strong Atlantic influence. The locals say that it is always spring! The northern part of the island is cooler and wetter than the south, which is protected from rain by the 3700 m Mount Teide. It’s not unusual to find a 5 C difference between the north and south, and the north is where most of the vineyards are. The North has 700 mm precipitation, while the south has 200 mm rain a year.
Vineyards are found from 50-1500 m in altitude, and soils are volcanic. Lots of different training systems are used, including the distinctive braided Cordon Trenzado in Orotava. The island has 5 of the 10 DOs of the Canary Islands.
Bodegas Insulares de Tenerife Humboldt Tinto Dulce 2001 DO Tacoronte-Acentejo, Tenerife
18% alcohol. 100% Listan Negro. Picked beginning of September, selected in the winery, destemmed, crushed, fermented until 8% alcohol, then spirit is added. Aged for three years in American oak, but this was was aged 18 years in oak. 150 g/l sugar. Deep coloured and still has some fruit, as well as dried roses and sweet spices, with some vanilla and cinnamon, as well as some wood spice. It’s lively, with a hint of volatility, but over all this is pure, warm and spicy with nice complexity and length. Sweet and rich, but still fresh. The finish is really long. 94/100
Pantellaria island is 100 km from Sicily and 70 km from Tunisa. It’s small (83 km2) and has just 500 hectares of vines. It has a warm Mediterranean climate with hot summers. It’s very windy (the main wind is the warm Sirocco from the south). 450 mm rain a year. 20-400 m altitude for vines, found all over the island, often terraced. Albarello Pantesco training system: bush vines trained close to the ground.
Donnafugata Ben Ryé Passito di Pantellaria 2023 Sicily, Italy
14.5% alcohol. 200 g/l sugar, pH 3.8. They harvest some grapes and dry them. Harvest continues for a month and they ferment the dried grapes with fresh must. At different stages they add more dry grapes, and this process can last for a month. This is highly aromatic with grapey richness and some barley sugar and raisin notes. It smells sweet but fresh. The palate is concentrated and rich with good acidity and beautiful, intense, sweet, complex spice-laden grapey fruit. Has structure and depth, and a wide dynamic range. 96/100
Kefalonia is 280 km west of Athens in the Ionian sea. It’s 35 km x 50 km, giving an area of 780 km2, and there are 1200 hectares of vineyards. It has a Mediterranean climate, but a moderate one: summers are warm, winters are cold, with 800 mm rainfall per year, mostly in the winter. Limestone soils. Highest part of the island is 1700 m, and vineyards go up to 800 m.
Petrakopoulos Muscat of Kefalonia 2024 Kefalonia, Greece
Muscat Blanc à Petit Grains. Harvested and left to dry for a month, crushed and destemmed, then fermented in stainless steel. Bright, lively and grapey with nice freshness. Juicy and bright with lots of sweetness but also good acidity. Juicy and refreshing with nice weight. 92/100
Santorini is 230 km from Athens, and is 20 x 12 km (76 km2). Around 1200 hectares of vines. Warm mediterranean climate with hot summers. The main issue here is water: 300 mm rain a year. Meltemi wind is a strong wind from the north, and the vines are trained in the Koloura system close to the ground to reduce the wind effect. Also helps to catch moisture. Volcanic sandy soil so no phylloxera: the majority of the vineyards are ungrafted. Some very old vines.
Estate Agyros Vin Santo Santorini Late Release 2017 Greece
90% Assyrtiko, 10% Aldani, 10% Athiri. 13% alcohol, 3.1 pH, 220 g/l sugar. Deep brown/orange colour. Powerful and intense with mint, raisin, cherry and wood spice. Really concentrated and intense with a spicy, savoury overlay, some orange peel, and peach and lime, as well as a bit of structure on the finish. So complex. 95/100
Estate Agyros Vin Santo Santorini Heritage 1982 Greece
90% Assyrtiko, 10% Aldani, 10% Athiri. Bottled in 2024. pH 3, 400 g/l sugar, 12% alcohol. So complex and layered with raisin, spice, peach and some creaminess, with lovely density. Some herbs and mint, too. Really mellow and viscous, and in a place of harmony. Such concentration, complexity and harmony, and despite the amazingly high sugar, it’s balanced. 96/100
