Oeno P: Paris Sigalas pushes Assyrtiko to greater heights

Paris Sigalas looks exactly as one might imagine a French-educated, Greek mathematics professor-turned-winemaker to look. Which, strangely enough, is a little like the late Sir Michael Gambon.

Now in his late 70s, he exudes a very particular sort of ineffable, laid-back cool – shot through with a robust intellectualism and good sense of humour.

One senses that an afternoon with Paris could, very quickly, become an evening, and conversations would become very branching indeed.

As it was, we (mostly) stuck to wine at a recent presentation of his new project. And what is manifestly clear is the drive and vision – dare one call it a ‘pothos’ – to take his beloved Assyrtiko to a more rarefied level.

Scroll down for six notes on Oeno P

Paris in Paris

Sigalas was born into a winemaking family on Santorini and grew up helping at his grandfather’s ‘canava’ (cellar), on the island’s northern shore, beyond which – out to sea – lurks the underwater volcano of Kulumbo.

He left to study mathematics, an interest that saw him undertake a post-graduate course in mathematical logic in the French capital.

When he returned to Greece he taught mathematics for many years in Athens. It was only in 1991 that he returned to Santorini full-time and set up his own winemaking enterprise.

Over the following decades, Domaine Sigalas grew into a thriving estate and one of the leading wineries on the island.

A more personal project

But, in 2020, Sigalas handed over management of the domaine to Ktima Kir-Yianni.

With production up to 200,000 bottles a year, Sigalas says he felt an ‘existential’ need to return to a smaller project with room for more experimentation and one that would feed his ‘passion’ to hone his vision for Assyrtiko.

The result was Oeno P, which he now makes back in his family’s old canava overlooking the sea.

A study in Assyrtiko

Part of the inspiration for the project was a flirtation with a series of single village bottlings undertaken by Domaine Sigalas in 2015.

Sigalas explains that this ‘Seven Villages’ project – as well as being unique – had shown there was both a general character to Assyrtiko to Santorini as well as individual terroir characteristics.

Sigalas lays out what are – in his view – the defining characteristics of Santorini Assyrtiko: a rich, full body; balanced acidity; a distinct saline and mineral note; and a long finish.

‘What I wanted to do was dial up all these elements,’ he says.

To do so he approached the problem like a mathematical equation, or like a jazz piece, breaking down the wine into constituent parts and deciding how best to reassemble it.

Three vineyards

From his earlier project, Sigalas had identified vineyards in three places that he felt held particular promise.

These were:

• Akrotiri – provides the backbone of any blend, with a strong maritime feel of salinity and seaweed and intense acidity.
• Megalochori – the most balanced of the three, richer and less angular.
• Fira (Thera) – provides the finesse and ties the blend together.

He stressed that these assessments were ‘not objective’ but ‘what I feel and apply to my blending’.

Drawing his fruit from these sites gave the name for his main cuvée, ‘Tria Ampelia’ – ‘Three Vineyards’.

Sigalas’ ambition to amplify the inherent qualities of Assyrtiko also influenced his choice of winemaking vessels.

The grapes are pressed in a vertical press (as in Champagne) for a more gentle extraction that preserves the quality of the initial grape must.

Eschewing oak and stainless steel, all of the wines are fermented and aged in clay amphora – a mix of 750 litre and 1,600L in size – which likewise serves to conserve the wine’s fresh and delicate aromas, but also ‘smooths out the rough edges’ thanks to a very gentle oxygen transfer.

The wines are aged for at least 16 months on their lees, with lees-stirring tailored to each amphora, and then bottled unfiltered.

How they taste

On a purely technical level these are beautifully made, very precise wines. They have that wonderful trinity of clearly belonging to a place, grape and maker that cuts through even vintage variation and stylistic constraint.

There’s not only balance between the constituent pillars of wine (ripeness, acidity and alcohol), there is tension.

In the very best examples (in my opinion the 2022 and 2023 wines), they positively crackle with an almost electric charge.

The wines are packed with lemon and stone fruit character, as well as notes of fragrant hay and honey and a discreet chalky texture.

Sigalas speaks of ‘salinity’ and ‘minerality’ and, however you perceive or define those characters, they are clear to me, adding to the sense of sea-kissed freshness that pervades these wines.

The extended lees ageing is adding an important element too. In hot climates like Santorini, many producers choose not to put their wines through malolactic conversion (which adds a creamy character) to preserve acidity.

But the long ageing sur lie and bâtonnage adds a featherlight yet mouth-filling texture, like a dollop of fresh cream or meringue, which pairs wonderfully with all the notes of ripe fruit and honey.

It also brings a pastry or biscuit note which, combined with the saline element, gives a delightfully moreish sablé Breton quality.

What I like most about them is that they are evocative. They chatter and dance with suggestions of the sun’s reflection on the sea and rocks bleached sun-white like hunks of salt, and the waft of citrus fruits in the breeze and herb-infused honey.

They are, put simply, very Greek. And possibly a rare example of fine wines best-enjoyed not in a restaurant, but at a wooden table in the sun.

Aiming high

The 2020 and 2021 vintages of Tria Ampelia are both perfectly good, but are clearly early first steps. It’s the beautifully complete 2022 and compelling 2023 where all those elements Sigalas was after really come together.

I was whisked away, Helen-like, by the single amphora wine, Pithari 11. This is (as the name suggests) a single amphora allowed to ferment spontaneously, and the dash of residual sugar left behind just adds an extra dimension of lusciousness that is unctuous and divine.

‘Akulumbo’ – the late harvest ‘Nykteri’ style – is a radical step-up and I found it rather heavy after the deftness of the Tria Ampelia cuvées.

Nykteri means ‘all nighter’ in Greek, though at 15% I’d doubt you’d stay awake after a bottle. There’s no questioning its hedonistic and contemplative qualities however.

These wines are not cheap. Tria Ampelia is £85 a bottle, single amphora is £100 and Akulumbo is £108.

Given the quality and artisanal nature of these wines – at 20,000 bottles a year Oeno P is a tenth of the production of Domaine Sigalas – I think these prices are justified.

Greece is one of Europe’s great wine regions – albeit one forced by history to play catch-up.

Ambitious projects such as Oeno P, that aim to elevate the status of the country’s indigenous grapes and winemaking, are important steps to ensure that Greek Assyrtiko is one day mentioned in the same breath as white Burgundy or Alsatian Riesling.

And I’ll envy anyone who gets to while away a languid afternoon drinking a bottle on a Greek island, with the sun on their face and the sound of the Aegean lapping in their ears.

Santorini tremors

Around the time this article was written, the Cyclades chain, of which Santorini is a part, was rocked by a serious of violent tremors. Many people left the island and there were fears a major earthquake was possible.

Those fears have now largely subsided. Decanter asked Paris Sigalas’ agent, Maltby & Greek, if it had any news and received this reply in reassurance:

‘After London, Paris flew straight back to Santorini. He still remains on the island, and he has secured the clay amphoras even better in case of a bigger earthquake. Although, according to experts, this scenario is not likely to happen anymore as the seismic activity has slowed down.

‘He is not worried and as he says, he cannot feel the earthquakes – only the ones that are above 4.5 richters.’

Oeno P: The range so far

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