Fifteen years ago (back in 2009), the winemaker of GAIA Wines, Yiannis Paraskevopoulos, decided to initiate an experiment to investigate the ageing of Assyrtiko in an environment completely devoid of oxygen. To that end, he began submerging 500 bottles of every subsequent vintage of “Thalassitis”(*) in the Aegean Sea, off the east coast of Santorini Island at a 20m depth. The bottles remain there for 4 years before resurfacing.

The process is a constant cycle of trial and error perpetuated by what can only be described as Greek ingenuity; an iron cage for the bottles, plastic containers acting as buoys, scuba tanks as a source of air, a GPS device to mark the location and a team of adventurous scuba divers (including Paraskevopoulos himself as well as friends and family) all contribute to the cause, which seems to be fitted not just for the sake of the experiment, but also for the very entertainment of those involved.

Adversity, of course, still ensues. Violent storms destroyed all but a few of the bottles submerged in 2009 and a great number of the 2010s. Too much depth had most of the corks of 2011 and 2012 giving way to seawater. The cycle is on-going. Today, Sept 2024 and for the past 6 years, we can safely say that we have finally mastered the technic. All bottles survive the depth & time!

The effect of the underwater aging is undoubtedly present. The inherent flintiness of Assyrtiko becomes amplified greatly to generate an intense fuel-like character, much like that of an aged Riesling (on steroids). Upon letting the wine “breathe”, those aromas begin to dissipate and give way to unmistakeable floral and sweet honey aromas, previously unmet in an unoaked Santorini, which is typically not very aromatic at all. This is made even more interesting by the fact that those aromas are not the product of the slow oxidation that is associated with the aging of wine. Oxidation, here, is simply impossible to occur (actually that is the whole point of the operation) thus “Thalassitis Submerged”, even after 4 years, retains the chief characteristic of Assyrtiko of Santorini: its intense, youthful, crisp acidity. 

When met with this wine, pray for oysters graced with a single drop of a well smokey single malt Scotch.

(*) “Thalassitis” in Greek translates to “the one that comes from the sea”