Ικαρία (Ikaria)

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The vineyard area of the Ikaria PGI production zone extends across the island of Ikaria at elevations ranging from 50 to 800 metres.
• The aspect of the vineyards, the topographic relief, and proximity to the sea together foster a terrestrial Mediterranean microclimate characterised by mild winters and cool summers.
• A significant proportion of the island's vineyards are situated on sloping soils and terraces overlooking the Icarian Sea, where they are subject to the influence of its winds.
• Ikaria is swept by winds that can reach what the island's inhabitants call 'ametro' — that is, force nine on the Beaufort scale — with a decisive impact on vine training and plant-protection practices.

• The wine produced on the island, the 'Pramnian wine', is mentioned in ancient texts such as the Iliad and the Odyssey, while Galen and Hippocrates refer to its medicinal use.
• In the late nineteenth century the traveller Hauttecoeur reported that the island's vineyards covered a large area with 200,000 vines, and that the phylloxera outbreak caused only a temporary decline thanks to the replacement of vines grafted onto American rootstocks.
• The Great War and the economic and social hardships that followed, combined with the wave of emigration in the 1950s, led to a degree of abandonment of viticulture on the island.

Facts drawn from the specification's terroir-link section by automatic interpretation — see the source.

All appellations in Greece

Sources

• National product specification (PDF) — ypaat
• eAmbrosia register (EU) — File number PGI-GR-A0836
• Official trade body site — Wines of Greece (EDOAO)