Haridimos Hatzidakis was the vigneron and driving force behind Hatzidakis Winery. He is the creator of large and complex wines, made from grapes that grow in the direct sunlight and volcanic soil of Santorini. The local grape varietals come from the un-grafted, 40–150-year-old vines, and Hatzidakis is the only winery on the island, that works with organic and biodynamic methods in their vineyards and non-intervention in the cellars.
Haridimos focused on the Assyrtiko grape – the gold of Greece – which, by his skilled hands, produces wines that are comparable to the great wines that we know from Jura, Loire, and Chablis. With the white wines Santorini, Nyxteri, Cuvée no. 15, and Assyrtiko de Mylos, the winery receives praise from reviewers across the board. The wines, the philosophy and the mystical winery found in an old, ashen cave under the pre-phylloxeran vineyards, have attained cult status in the wine world. The wines have previously been available at some of the top restaurants in the world, including several in Scandinavia; Geranium in Copenhagen and Esperanto Group in Stockholm, to name a few. You might still be lucky to find one on some of the best wine lists.
In August 2017, Haridimos Hatzidakis passed away suddenly at a young age. Haridimos Hatzidakis will be terribly missed. We honour his warmth, his fantastically inspiring legacy and the important pioneering work, he did on Santorini; the beautiful authentic wines on the hyperlocal varietals nurtured from the difficult volcanic soil – work that inspired many producers of wine, both in Greece and beyond, and which pushed Greek wine to the forefront of the modern international wine world.
After a long break, we met with the new team behind Hatzidakis Winey, during a trip to Athens in March of 2018. The winery is now run by, among others, Stella Hatzidakis and Konstantina Chryssou, and we now have new stock from the long-missed portfolio of fantastic wines made by this dedicated green winery, with some of the oldest vines on the volcanic island.
The winery’s new 2016 Skitali, made from 100% Assyrtiko, with 12 months on the lees in steel tanks, illustrates the continuation of the spirit of Haridimos Hatzidakis to the new team behind the winery. Skitali has been released in a very exciting 2017 vintage, delivered directly from Santorini to Restaurant Lyst.