Santorini wine emits SOS
A risk signal for the vineyard of the vineyard in Santorini, which is slowly and steadily declining, the winemakers on the island are ringing, who warn that if no mathematical precision are taken, by 2042 grape production will be reset.
The aging of the vineyards, the lack of new farmers, the reckless unholy construction and the climate change observed in recent years in the coastal Mediterranean basin, have brought the Santorini vineyard, who is fighting for his survival.
The Santorini vineyard has an area of 10,000 acres, with a dominant variety (80%) Assyrtiko. Although PDO Santorini wines are on the list of the highest quality wines that have won the markets of the world, the primary sector on which the winery is supported, according to the island’s winemakers, seems to be walking on a stretched rope.
« Although the situation seems ominous we are optimistic and will fight for the survival of our vineyard, » Santorini Winemakers’ president Petros Vamvakoussis tells OT.
In the triptych, which exacerbates the situation and endangers the viability of the Santorini vineyard, Mr. Vamvakoussis reports. This includes the aging of the vineyard, and the attempt to renew it is slowly. « The average age of the plants at the moment is almost 60 – 70 years old. The plants at this age have gone out of their productive stage and are essentially underfunded. So there is a reason to have low yields, ”explains the president of the Association.
« The second reason is climate change and the lack of rainfall and thirdly we do not have new people in the primary sector, » Mr Vamvakoussis notes. This is because he typically points out to OT, to the fact that even as a winemaking industry, « we have not been able to give the stimulus to pursue this profession. To give scholarships to study or even operate on the island an IEK of wine -growing, as the island has this great and great variety, Assyrtiko, which we try to save. «
Santorini’s « Sass For Water »
In the implementation of new technologies and research in viticulture in collaboration with academic and research institutions, the Santorini Winemakers Association, which was founded in 2023 with the participation of 13 of the island’s 18 wineries. Today the link is attended by 10 wineries.
« Without water we have no future and it seems we will not return to times that will start to rain like in the past decades. According to our mathematical model it seems that by 2042 that grape production will reset. Indeed, in the last two conferences held by the SEO, it was highlighted that by 2060 the flora will have changed in the coastal Mediterranean areas, which means that not only the vineyard of Santorini is in danger but that many crops are lost in the so -called deserted zones.
Currently, a sub-group has been created within the framework of the Association, called « water for water » and which, as Mr. Vamvakoussis explains to OT, « works intensively for how we can find water to use it in the vineyard. We will not go to change the crop from dry to watering. If we manage to find water we will use it during the winter. «
In this regard, a file has already been prepared, which will be submitted to Measure 16 (« cooperation » between bodies) expected for an ambitious project, which concerns the processing of biological cleansing water in order to return to the crop.
« This is not something we have discovered, they have been doing other states for many years, such as Spain, for 23 years. In our case, the Association, with the Local Water Supply and Sewerage Service, and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with the help of Professor Stefanos Koundouras, will draw a program for how to use water when and when we have it, how and what we do,
At the same time, there is also an innovative device, which, as the president of the Association explains to OT, « encloses the moisture of the atmosphere without energy and converts it into water. This is a project, which started by the US army with the aim of surviving soldiers in the desert. We want to do it on a larger scale and so we are in contact with an innovation company in the United States that undertakes this project to make it more scale so that it can, if it is in the dimensions we want, to produce water. «
In the next phase, they are in consultation with the Region’s Water Service « If we can use some boreholes that already exist and with a further treatment and filtering, the water -heated water can be used for watering.
Indeed, commenting on the special planning plan, which was released last October, he points out that « according to the study it seems that there is still room for everyone, that is, to expand the settlements, to fit the businesses, to stay room for the fields and for the fields, and for the vineyards. »
Source OT
