Volcanic Soils in Wine: Santorini, Etna, and the Canary Islands

Volcanic soils are formed from cooled lava, pumice and ash, and unlike older sedimentary soils they are geologically young and chemically active. What they look like varies from site to site. On Santorini, vines are planted on a white layer of lava, Therean ash and pumice 30 to 50 meters deep, laid down by successive eruptions, and the island's soils include basalt, volcanic ash, sand, pumice and andesite. On Etna, soils are sometimes pebbly and gravelly and sometimes sandy, or rather ash, and more than 40 distinct soil types have been mapped across the contrade. On Lanzarote, a layer of lapilli, locally called rofe or picón, covers the older soil and reaches 3 meters in some parts of La Geria.

• Pumice and ash: on Santorini the soil of the vine-growing areas is deep and sandy, with a complete absence of organic matter
• Lava-flow mosaic: Etna's soils range from pebbly and gravelly to sandy or ash, and its 133 Contrade mirror the peculiarities of the soils
• Lapilli (picón): on Lanzarote the lapilli layer lets rain filter in quickly, prevents evaporation from the soil beneath and keeps soil temperature constant

One wine magazine's feature holds that on poor, stony volcanic soils, vines are forced to dig deep for water and nutrients, yields are smaller and the berries more concentrated. Santorini fits that pattern, since the soil's low fertility and moisture capacity is offset by roots that can penetrate deep into the loose ground. There, morning mists rising from the caldera cover the island, and at night the pumice absorbs the moisture the vines need. On Lanzarote, where average annual rainfall is 150 mm, the porous volcanic ash acts like a dark sponge that retains the dew and passes it to the vines during the day.

• Deep rooting: Santorini's basket-shaped vines are pruned back to the ground every 80 years or so, so the true age and depth of their roots remain unknown
• Night moisture: Santorini's pumice absorbs moisture at night, while the strong northerly winds of the day prevent moisture from accumulating on the grapes
• Wind shelter: on Lanzarote, growers plant 1 to 3 vines at the bottom of funnel-shaped holes, sometimes more than two meters deep, protected by semicircular stone walls 60 to 70 cm high

Wines of Greece presents PDO Santorini as bursting with sea-salt minerality, built on Assyrtiko's steely structure, depth of citrus fruit and high levels of acidity and alcohol. On Etna, the local consortium credits the volcanic composition of the soils with the wines' distinctive mineral flavour. Nerello Mascalese wines are high in alcohol and acidity, with minerality and great finesse, while pure Carricante shows citrus flowers and white pulp fruit, with an exceptional minerality on the palate. Lanzarote's regulatory council links its wines with a marked volcanic-mineral flavour balanced by relatively high acidity. For Tenerife producer Jonatan García Lima of Suertes del Marqués, the common factor in wines from Santorini, the Azores and the Canaries is salinity and a feeling of purity.

• Santorini Assyrtiko: steely and austere in youth, with citrus depth and high acidity and alcohol; the best wines usually need time in bottle and evolve into aromas of honey, dried fruit, nuts, herbs, spices and intense minerality
• Etna reds: Nerello Mascalese wines show high alcohol, high acidity, minerality, great finesse and medium structure; Etna agronomist Michele Brusaferri finds flinty, balsamic and even liquorice notes in them
• Lanzarote whites: young whites are straw yellow and very aromatic, marked by the personality of Malvasía, with a dry, almond finish

PDO Santorini was established in 1971 and includes the islands of Santorini (Thira) and Thirasia. Its vineyards run from sea level to terraces up to about 300 m, and growers train their vines in the basket-shaped kouloura or the low gobelet koulouraki to protect them from the strong meltemia winds. The island's old, ungrafted, basket-trained vines sit in many cases on 300-year-old roots. The Etna PDO dates from 1968 and was the first DOC in Sicily; today its surface is just under 1,200 hectares. The most used training system is the traditional gobelet, with bush vines on black lava-stone terraces; on the eastern slope the terraces reach 900 metres, and on the south-western slope Nerello Cappuccio and Carricante can exceed 1,000 metres. Lanzarote's Denominación de Origen was recognized by an order of 14 December 1993. Its 2011 regulation covers every municipality on the island and places vineyards on land prepared in the island's traditional ways, with a layer of volcanic sand of variable depth and wind protection from holes, low stone walls or both, while also admitting other practices that respect or improve quality. The island counts about 2,000 hectares of vineyards and yields of 1,000 to 1,500 kg per hectare.

• Santorini: PDO since 1971; dry wines at least 85% Assyrtiko, with Athiri and Aidani; vineyards from sea level to about 300 m; self-rooted because the soil is sandy, so never affected by phylloxera
• Etna: PDO since 1968; just under 1,200 hectares today; main varieties Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio, Carricante and Catarratto; day-night temperature differences that can reach 20 to 25°C
• Lanzarote: DO since 1993; about 2,000 hectares; Malvasía volcánica the main, autochthonous variety; vineyard work is done by hand because the hole system does not allow machinery

Santorini's freedom from phylloxera comes down to soil texture: the PDO vineyard is self-rooted because the soil is sandy with a very small percentage of clay, and so was never affected. The soil of the vine-growing areas is also deep and sandy, with a complete absence of organic matter. Santorini's volcanic subsoil also enriches the soil with calcium, magnesium, ferrous iron and silicium but is poor in potassium, which may explain the especially high acidity of the grapes at their ripening peak. On Etna, the volcanic soils made the vines immune to phylloxera, and the ancient vineyards, some more than a century old, are often ungrafted, meaning not grafted onto an American rootstock. Catania had over 90,000 hectares of vineyards between 1880 and 1885; with the arrival of phylloxera in the early 1900s, the vineyard receded to about 40,000 hectares. On Lanzarote, beneath the volcanic ash the soil is fertile, made of clay or sand over a bed of limestone.

• Low clay, sandy texture: the PDO vineyard is self-rooted because Santorini's soil is sandy with a very small percentage of clay, so it was never affected by phylloxera
• Potassium and acidity: Santorini's soil is poor in potassium, which may explain the grapes' especially high acidity
• Ungrafted Etna vines: Etna's consortium counts some of Italy's oldest vineyards on the volcano, some more than a century old and often ungrafted

Volcanic wine reaches well beyond these three islands. Jonatan García Lima of Suertes del Marqués distinguishes acid volcanic soils from basic volcanic soils, and in his experience vines adapt very well to volcanic soils that are rich and fertile, especially in rainier areas, mostly on the north face of the islands at high elevation on Tenerife, La Palma and Gran Canaria. He names Santorini, the Azores and the Canaries as places whose wines share salinity and a feeling of purity. One wine magazine's survey of winemakers concludes that volcanic wines tend to be vivid rather than heavy, bursting with acidity, salinity and brightness.

• Acid versus basic volcanic soils: in García Lima's view, wines from acid soils are more mineral, higher in acidity and with greater tension, but also more reductive, and both types share salinity
• Canary Islands: García Lima points out that on the Canary Islands all vines remain ungrafted
• Length over width: for Carlo Ferrini, founder of Alberelli di Giodo on Etna, wines from volcanic soils express themselves in length rather than width

Primary sources: https://winesofgreece.org/articles/volcanic-terroirs/, https://winesofgreece.org/pdo/pdo-santorini/, https://thewinesofetna.com/terroir/, https://thewinesofetna.com/consortium/, https://thewinesofetna.com/wines, https://dolanzarote.com/vino/lanzarote/, https://dolanzarote.com/vino/lanzarote/entorno/, https://dolanzarote.com/vino/lanzarote/suelo/, https://www.gobiernodecanarias.org/boc/2011/035/002.html, https://www.gobiernodecanarias.org/boc/1993/161/001.html. Secondary source: https://www.decanter.com/learn/what-makes-volcanic-wines-so-special-winemakers-have-their-say-564508/. Last verified 2026-10-04