Seismic Shift by Tara Q. Thomas Assyrtiko Moves to the Mainland It used to be that if it wasn't from Santorini, assyrtiko simply didn't rate. No mainland examples ever came close to the racy, chalky, searingly dry examples off that Aegean island. And why would they? Nowhere else do you have assyrtiko vines with roots some 300 years old, anchored in the soil-less remnants of an exploded volcano. Suddenly, great assyrtikos are turning up in other locales, from Crete to the winelands near Thessaloniki; there are even versions coming out of California and Australia. What's changed? 28 WINE & SPIRITS AUGUST 2018