SANTORINI, Greece — Standing in a vineyard on the Greek island of Santorini, winemaker Yiannis Boutaris points to a withered vine that once thrived for nine decades. Trained into a basket shape — a traditional style called a ‘kouloura’ designed to shield grapes from the intense summer sun — the plant ultimately could not survive the relentless heat and drought that have hammered the island in recent years.
That dead vine tells a larger story. Across Santorini, low rainfall and scorching temperatures between 2023 and 2025 have driven up grape prices, dramatically cut wine production, and deepened fears about the island’s water supply. It’s a problem spreading across much of Greece as climate change pushes summers to become hotter and rainfall increasingly unpredictable.
“The lack of rain, in combination with the lack of cultivation, in the last couple of years has led to these old vineyards really dying,” said Boutaris, who both maintains his own vineyards and purchases grapes from other growers — including the vineyard where those dying vines stand.
“The main thing for our winery is we are not abandoning tradition … we are adapting the vineyard to the new circumstances,” he added.
Boutaris is a sixth-generation winemaker who leads the Domaine Sigalas winery, now part of the Kir-Yianni family of wineries. He is currently running a pilot program alongside local officials and scientists that would redirect wastewater from homes and hotels to irrigate the vines. Supporters of the approach say it could be more sustainable and energy-efficient than relying on costly desalination plants — a method also used in California.
He is also experimenting with planting vines in rows rather than in the traditional scattered arrangement, making irrigation more manageable. Another technique under trial is atmospheric water harvesting, which pulls moisture from the air using hydrogels and then extracts it as usable water through heat generated by solar panels.
The struggle facing winemakers is part of a broader competition for land and water resources across Greece. During the tourist season, when millions of visitors flood islands like Santorini, farmers, hotel operators, and swimming pool owners all find themselves vying for a shrinking share of the available water.
The toll on production has been severe. Santorini’s prized Assyrtiko grape yield dropped from 2,500 metric tons in 2022 to just 500 tons last year. As a result, winemakers are now paying farmers 10 euros — roughly $11 — per kilogram, prices comparable to prestigious wine regions like Champagne. By contrast, a kilogram of grapes in cooler northern Greece fetches only about 80 cents.
“Santorini reached a limit of dramatic conditions in 2023 and 2024,” said Stefanos Koundouras, a professor of viticulture at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki. He noted that temperatures during that stretch were the hottest recorded in 60 years.
Koundouras warned that the wine industry could become increasingly unsustainable across Europe — especially in Mediterranean areas — if warming and drying trends continue. “We are already seeing problems in the quality and special character of the wines,” he said.
Fellow winemaker Yiannis Papaeconomou is also planning to tap into the wastewater irrigation project for his six-year-old vines. In the meantime, he has been testing subsurface irrigation — a system that delivers water directly beneath the soil to cut down on evaporation — as well as trellising techniques that allow for more efficient watering.
“So we must adapt and proceed in a new way of thinking and, you know, find a way out,” Papaeconomou said.
