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Day 5: Oia, Santorini
Waking up to the view of the volcano and the sun rising over the cliff and Fira is quite the treat.
T
his morning, we take our breakfast on our terrace and are met by 2 very friendly cats. I of course share some of the cold cuts and cheese with them which they love but when I try to give them some Greek yoghurt, absolutely not!
Hummmm. They leave when they see we are done. They think nothing of walking on the ledge behind the gate! Yikes!
We almost regret booking a 5 hour tour on our only full day here as we felt there is so much to see in Oia. We leave for our tour at 10 and meet up with another couple from New York on our way to the first wineries: Boutari. Our driver / guide is Stamatis, a Greek from Corfu who currently lives in Scotland in the off season being a Sommelier at Glen Eagle. When I asked why would a Greek moved to Scotland, his reply is the exceptional opportunity. Glen eagle had more than 600 variety of wines in its cellar that he gets to sample.
We arrive at Boutari, we also meet up with 2 other couples that will join us for the rest of the tour. Another couple from New York and one from Dallas.
We finally learn why the vines are so different here. They are not trained up or planted on a row. They are basically spread out and trained to turn into a basket in the middle. The goal being to provide shade and protection from the high winds that come here. They do not have irrigation system but rather a stone in the composition of the soil, traps the little water that they get a year, sometimes 150 to 250 mm annually! Also the regular mist rising from the sea provides them with moisture and gives the wine a very particular mineral aroma / flavor. There are more than 400 local variety of grapes in Greece and more than 50 grow in Santorini. I did not realize how big a producer of wine Greece is. Apparently the protectionism in Canafa combined with the requirement to produce and ship a certain minimum number of bottles is the cause of the very limited Greek wine imported in canada. The majority of the wineries here are …gseveral generation family owned and low producers.
Stamatis is fantastic at explaining the nuances and differences in aromas and tastes and the impact of acidity in the wine. We try wines made with Assyrtiko which an indigenous Greek green grape from Santorini. The difference is clear between the one that did not spend anytime in the oak barrel and the one who did. He also tells us that Santornini is not the official name of the island. The name is Thira. Santorini was given by the Italians who came a long time ago and dedicated a saint in the nearby island of Thessalina.
We then try the private reserve red wine which we really enjoy as well as the Vinsanto wine which is the traditional naturally sweet dessert wine from the island of Santorni. It traces back to Ancient Greek and is made from the same green grapes that are first sun-dried. We also try a different red grape based dessert wine.
The winery pairs every wine with a different food to highlight the difference when tasting a wine with food and the importance of correct pairing. Well I guess that only matters in the first few bottles 🙂
We then make our way to the second much smaller winery that is family owned and run for 3 century. The current winemaker is 4th generation wine maker at this place. We try again 2 white from the same grape but the the lees (molded yeast) that is stirred in one and they east deposit only stirred in the other. Again another Vinsanto. We can not taste red wine here as the production is so small that it is not available for tasting. The Greek’s wine production is 80% white.
We very much enjoy our companions on this tour. A young couple from Long Island, Christine and Tim, a couple from Dallas and a couple from Albany who lived in China, Austria and several states.
Around 1:30, we leave for the restaurant where we will be cooking. It is Nichteri in The small town of Kamari on the other side of the island with the black beach. The restaurant is right on the beach and it is amazing to see how different the landscape is for such a small island.
I forget the Greek name of the chef but he tells us to call him Bill. Very unassuming pleasant guy. We begin with the Santorini salad which is a Greek salad with capers, caper leaves, rusk (dry bread) and the Santorini Cheerios tomatoes.
No lettuce of course. We have to let it sit for a while for the olive oil to soak up everything.
We then begin to work on the tomato fritters. A really lot of Santorini tomatoes, onions, oil of course, fresh mint, salt and pepper and then the while thing is mashed by hand. We then add flour until the right consistence and start making the small balls that are placed in hot olive oil on a pan. No deep frying for Bill. He explains that deep frying will add too much greasiness to the delicate flavor and that because he uses as little flour as possible, it falls apart in oil too hot. Oil can not be more than 140C. Because of that fact also, less oil sticks to the fritters which makes them very light. They are succulent!
We then begin the main meal which is pork stewed in Vinsanto. He tells us that the Mediterranean Greeks eat meat maybe twice a month, too much effort and heat to run ovens. They eat mainly small fishes such as sardines and lots of seafood, salads, cheese and olives. Another neat fact: they only use peppers on feta cheese, nothing else.
He heats the oil to no more than 140C and then put the fresh rosemary and turns the burner off. He doesn’t want the fresh rosemary to over cook as it becomes bitter. He then coats the slices of pork tenderloin in the oil and rosemary and then turns the burner by one. After a minute or two, he adds broth, sweet wine and tomato paste and let’s is stew for 10 minutes. The results is a very tender piece of meat with a rich and flavorful sauce…and no butter or flour!
We are then led to our table on the beach where the fruits of our labor are served to us. Absolutely fantastic. We enjoy a lively conversation, comparing commuting time, difference of laws between states and Canada ( the Long Island guy is an attorney), winter storms and….nfl football. Turns out he is also a big fan and was keeping in top of results and play by play on his ipad. The people who lives in a lot of places also lived in Minnesota and share a liking for the Vikings, well wouldn’t you know!
Around 4:30, we leave to go back to our hotels and share transportation with Tim and Christine whose hotel is next door to us. We find out she works at the federal reserve so more connections. Another new fact: the cell company in the States are moving away from unlimited data plan for phones, so Tim is refusing any phone updates in favor of buying his phones to not loose his. Imagine now the Americans have to settle with 2 gb per month!
Upon our return, the plans to walk down the stairs (cliff) to the beach and go shopping seem much less appealing, especially when u see the prices of 250euros for earrings. I decide to go for a dip in the pool and reading my pool. Chuck of course strikes up a conversation with our Neighbours who are from Waterloo, Ontario. What are the chances.
We go for a walk to the side where the sunsets at 6:30 and of course the road and stairs are packed. The clouds are out tonight though so it is not a full sunset but beautiful nonetheless.
The guy at the reception who is from Rhodes island ( but half Greek) tells us that there are roughly 10,000 residents on Santorini but on some days in the summer, the population swells to 2.5million. I find it busy and crowded now and I can not imagine more people! Never travel there in the summer. We are told that more and more Asian come now and later in the fall so the island which now shuts now mid October May stay open a bit longer. He studied in Lausanne, Switzerland and has met there several students from George Brown who exchanged there. Interesting to know how well renowned this program is and in Toronto 🙂
A few things we noticed, there are several roaming cats that hang around terraces and patios. They are not aggressive and very friendly and patiently wait for food. Also lots of dogs roaming free on the street but none skinny. I realize that they are not stray dogs but they belong to a family, they just go wherever they want whenever they want! Oh And weddings!!! We have seen 4 in the 2 evenings we spend there. Apparently, it is non stop. Lots of groups from Asia also who never seem to have enough pictures.
I am too tired to upload the blog that night and then discover in the morning that the amount of pictures I have causes trouble with the wifi for the upload. It gets stuck and I have to re-start and wait later on to upload it.
Martine's food and places 