Domaine Sigalas

Paris Sigalas grew up in a Santorinian winemaking family and spent his childhood summers among the kouloura baskets of the Oia plain before leaving the island for an academic career in mathematics. He returned to Santorini in 1991 to found his namesake estate in Oia, releasing a maiden vintage of dry Assyrtiko that became the first wine from the island to be labelled under the new Santorini Protected Designation of Origin classification. Production began in a converted Sigalas family home, with the early vintages framed by Paris's mathematical patience and a fastidious approach to fermentation chemistry that quickly distinguished the wines from the cooperative-dominant Santorini scene of the early 1990s. In 1998 the estate built a purpose-built vinification, bottling, and ageing facility on a privately owned site near Oia, integrating temperature-controlled stainless steel with a small French oak barrel cellar. The estate has expanded across roughly 40 hectares, with around 17 hectares of new plantings completed since 2020 to extend the Assyrtiko, Aidani, and Mavrotragano programmes. United States distribution runs through Skurnik Wines & Spirits.

• Paris Sigalas left an academic mathematics career to return to his Santorinian winemaking family in 1991, founding the estate in Oia on the northern plain of the island.
• The maiden 1991 Santorini Assyrtiko was the first wine from the island to be labelled under the Santorini Protected Designation of Origin classification, anchoring the estate's reference position.
• Production began in a converted Sigalas family home; a purpose-built winery, bottling, and ageing facility was completed on a privately owned site near Oia in 1998.
• The estate has expanded to roughly 40 hectares across multiple villages, with approximately 17 hectares of new plantings completed since 2020 to extend the Assyrtiko, Aidani, and Mavrotragano surface.
• Annual production approaches 200,000 bottles; United States distribution runs through Skurnik Wines & Spirits.

The Sigalas vineyard surface spans multiple villages on Santorini, with the largest contiguous footprint on the northern plain around Oia and additional parcels in Imerovigli, Pyrgos, and other central villages. All vines are ungrafted on their own roots, sustained by the volcanic aspa soils of basalt, pumice, ash, and sand whose extreme mineral poverty and very low clay content render the island inhospitable to phylloxera. Vines are trained in the traditional kouloura basket-weave that protects fruit from the meltemi winds, ash deposition, and intense summer sun, and farming is sustainable with a long-running organic-methods commitment that began with the estate's enrolment in a Greek government organic farming programme in 1994. The flagship Kavalieros parcel sits at the centre of the cuvée architecture: an Imerovigli vineyard at 250 metres on volcanic ash, pumice, and black lava, planted with vines over 60 years old, and the source of approximately 10,000 bottles per year of single-vineyard Assyrtiko. The estate also helped lead the modern restoration of Mavrotragano on Santorini alongside Hatzidakis Winery, training the rare red variety in low linear runs and using selective irrigation to ensure full ripeness from the late-budding indigenous grape.

• All Sigalas vines are ungrafted on their own roots, sustained by aspa volcanic soils whose extreme mineral poverty and very low clay content render Santorini inhospitable to phylloxera.
• Vineyards span multiple villages including Imerovigli, Pyrgos, and the northern plain around Oia, with the most concentrated footprint near the modern Oia winery.
• Vines are trained in the traditional kouloura basket-weave that protects fruit from meltemi winds, ash deposition, and intense summer sun on the island's volcanic plateau.
• Sigalas was among the first Santorinian estates to commit to organic viticulture, enrolling in a Greek government organic farming programme in 1994.
• The estate helped lead the modern restoration of indigenous Mavrotragano alongside Hatzidakis Winery, training the rare red in low linear runs and using selective irrigation for ripeness.

Kavalieros sits at the centre of the Sigalas single-vineyard programme: a small high-elevation parcel in the village of Imerovigli at 250 metres above sea level, planted with own-rooted Assyrtiko vines over 60 years old on a volcanic mosaic of ash, pumice, and black lava. The wine is widely cited as Santorini's first single-vineyard Assyrtiko bottling, an early statement of site-specific identity within an island where blended estate Assyrtiko had been the historical norm. Vinification is fastidious: 100% Assyrtiko, fermented in stainless steel and aged for 18 months on fine lees in tank with intensive lees stirring, no oak, and no malolactic. The wine is bone-dry, with total acidity in the range of 5.5 to 6.4 grams per litre and alcohol typically between 14.0 and 14.5 percent, with annual production held at approximately 10,000 bottles. The 2024 vintage received 92 points from Decanter, with the cuvée recognised across the international fine-wine press as the canonical reference for ageworthy Santorini Assyrtiko on the high end of the elevation spectrum. The Sigalas range also includes the village-level estate Santorini Assyrtiko from older parcels and the entry-tier Santorini Assyrtiko, both fermented in stainless steel and aged briefly on lees to capture the broader Sigalas vineyard surface.

• Kavalieros is sourced from a high-elevation parcel in Imerovigli at 250 metres on volcanic ash, pumice, and black lava, planted with own-rooted Assyrtiko vines over 60 years old.
• The wine is widely cited as Santorini's first single-vineyard Assyrtiko bottling, an early statement of site-specific identity in an island long dominated by blended estate releases.
• Vinification is 100% Assyrtiko in stainless steel with 18 months on fine lees in tank, no oak, no malolactic, and intensive lees stirring; production sits around 10,000 bottles per year.
• Bone-dry, with total acidity of approximately 5.5 to 6.4 grams per litre and 14.0 to 14.5 percent alcohol; the 2024 vintage scored 92 points from Decanter.
• The estate-tier Santorini Assyrtiko captures the broader Sigalas vineyard surface from older parcels, fermented in stainless steel with brief lees ageing and no oak.

Beyond the single-vineyard Kavalieros, the Sigalas cuvée architecture spreads across the indigenous-grape surface of Santorini and the broader Cyclades. The Santorini Barrel is the estate's barrel-aged Assyrtiko: 100% Assyrtiko from vines averaging more than 60 years old, fermented in stainless steel and aged for six months in French oak barrels of 225 and 500 litres, with roughly 10 percent new oak under light toast and 90 percent in second and third-fill barrels. The Aidani is a varietal dry white revived from the island's once-vanishing blending grape, made from low-yielding parcels of own-rooted Aidani that today represent only around 10 percent of the Santorinian vineyard surface. The Mavrotragano is the estate's single Santorinian indigenous red, vinified with prolonged maceration and aged for 18 months in new oak barriques, bottled either as the 100% varietal or as the Mavrotragano-Mandilaria blend. The Vinsanto is the sweet wine archive: a blend of roughly 75% Assyrtiko and 25% Aidani made from grapes sun-dried on mats for ten to twelve days, fermented in classic white-wine vinification, and aged for a minimum of 24 months in old oak before release with concentrated dried-fruit and saline-mineral character.

• Santorini Barrel is the estate's barrel-aged Assyrtiko, fermented in stainless steel and aged six months in French oak of 225 and 500 litres, roughly 10 percent new and 90 percent second and third-fill.
• The Aidani varietal dry white is made from low-yielding parcels of own-rooted Aidani, the island's once-vanishing blending grape that now represents only around 10 percent of the Santorinian vineyard surface.
• The Mavrotragano red is fermented with prolonged maceration and aged 18 months in new oak; bottlings include the 100% varietal and the Mavrotragano-Mandilaria blend.
• Vinsanto is a blend of roughly 75% Assyrtiko and 25% Aidani, sun-dried on mats for ten to twelve days, then aged a minimum of 24 months in old oak.
• The full Assyrtiko-led portfolio runs from the entry-tier Santorini Assyrtiko through the village-level estate bottling to the single-vineyard Kavalieros and the oak-aged Santorini Barrel.

Domaine Sigalas occupies one of the central reference positions in the modern Santorini fine-wine identity, alongside Estate Argyros, Hatzidakis Winery, and Gaia Wines Santorini. The estate has been named to the Wine & Spirits Top 100 Wineries of the Year list in 2016, 2018, and 2020, with the Kavalieros 2024 receiving 92 points from Decanter and the Santorini Barrel earning a Gold medal at both the 2025 Decanter World Wine Awards and the 2025 International Wine Challenge with 95 points at each. Sigalas was an early Santorini pioneer of organic viticulture, joining a Greek government organic methods programme in 1994 and contributing to the modern restoration of Mavrotragano in collaboration with Hatzidakis Winery. The estate operates a tasting room and visitor centre on the northern plain near Oia, drawing wine pilgrims from across the international Santorini visitor trade, and has built the modern critical reputation of Santorinian Assyrtiko at the level of single-vineyard fine-wine recognition. United States imports run through Skurnik Wines & Spirits.

• Wine & Spirits magazine named Sigalas to its Top 100 Wineries of the Year list in 2016, 2018, and 2020, recognising the estate's place in the Santorini fine-wine reference set.
• The Kavalieros 2024 received 92 points from Decanter, and the Santorini Barrel earned Gold medals at both the 2025 Decanter World Wine Awards and the 2025 International Wine Challenge with 95 points at each.
• Paris Sigalas was an early pioneer of Santorini organic viticulture, enrolling in a Greek government organic farming programme in 1994 and helping anchor the island's modern sustainable footprint.
• Sigalas led the modern restoration of indigenous Mavrotragano alongside Hatzidakis Winery, using low linear training and selective irrigation to coax full ripeness from the rare red variety.
• The estate operates a tasting room and visitor centre on the northern plain near Oia; United States imports run through Skurnik Wines & Spirits.