Oeno P

Paris Sigalas needs little introduction as one of the definitive producers of the modern Greek wine renaissance. Originally a mathematician, he found his vinous calling working the 1987 harvest at his grandfather’s small canava on the north side of the island of Santorini and returned there to establish his own Domaine Sigalas in 1991. For the next thirty years he played a fundamental role in transforming the Santorini appellation and the Assyrtiko variety from interesting regional specialties into internationally beloved categories.

For all his accomplishments, one thing that, in humility, Paris claims never to have done: produce a truly great Santorini wine. Others may quibble with that self-assessment (Kavalieros, anyone??) but it’s refreshing that at his ripe age he continues to seek perfection. And with Oeno P, his brand-new personal project, he may have come dangerously close.

Some backstory: after spending his career working primarily with fruit from Oia, his home village, in 2015 Paris began producing Seven Villages, a pathbreaking collection of seven single-village wines from different zones of Santorini. In the following years, three villages in particular made a deep impression on him: Megalochori (for its power and structure), Akrotiri (for its bracing acidity and minerality), and Firá (for its unparalleled finesse). It was at this time that he began to conceive of the hypothetical ‘perfect’ Santorini blend, one carefully assembled from these three different terroirs. This is the idea that has come to full fruition at Oeno P.

Oeno P is based out Paris’ tiny, generations-old family canava in Baxedes on the north coast of the island. The small number of bottles made here are the product of decades of intimate knowledge of the island, but also innovation: Paris has brought in a vertical Coquard basket press from Champagne (unique on the island) to achieve the gentlest pressing and most delicate must possible. Fermentation and aging occur in 750L and 1600L Italian clay amphora, each built with a capacity to handle a single vineyard source. Long aging on the fine lees in amphora concludes in bottling with no filtration, and the results are spectacular: all the showstopping, salty, rocky character of classic Santorini Assyrtiko with truly world-class elegance and textural richness to boot.