Hatzidakis Winery Nyxteri

Variety: Assyrtiko
Category: White
Location: Santorini
Green Scale Score: 8

Hatzidakis Winery has come to be known over the years as Santorini’s answer to a cult winery. The style of the wines have always gravitated towards the pure and powerful, foregoing pure reductive winemaking which has become the international face of Santorini for more authentic and terroir driven expressions. Indeed single vineyard bottlings from the Louros vineyard nestled between the villages of Pyrgos and Megalochori have set Hatzidakis Winery apart for their exploration of the terroir tapestry of Santorini which was once assumed to be homogenous. Additionally, Hatzidakis has further distinguished himself by being the first to bottle monovarietal wines of the rare Aidani (2000 vintage) and even rarer Mavrotragano (1997 vintage simultaneously with Domaine Sigalas).

In the summer of 2017 Haridimos Hatzidkais died tragically, leaving the winery in the hands of his 3 children, the oldest of which, Stella, decided to continue moving forward and expanding on the important work of her father. The winery now currently has an all-female team of oenologists headed up by Helena Alevra who worked with Haridimos back in 2008 and Stella Papadimitriou who worked with him during the 2016 vintage, a team which is uniquely acquainted with the style and history of the wines produced there.

This limited release, Nyxteri is produced from 100% Assyrtiko where the harvest occurs during the night.  Nykteri is the wine that never sees the sun. it is considered the best wine of Santorini. These specific grapes came from some of the best vineyards of Santorini. It is harvested late, during the evening into the late hours and pressed in the traditional strofιlia. Fermentation occurs with indigenous yeasts and the wine is matured in French oak barrels for at least 12 months, producing very ripe flavors of stone fruit and silkier textures.