Grape Guide
Aidani
WhiteAidani is a white grape of the Cyclades whose stronghold is Santorini, where it works as a supporting partner to Assyrtiko in dry wines and as a sweetening component in Vinsanto. Its wines lean floral and softly tropical, with lower acidity than Assyrtiko, and a few growers now bottle it alone.
Key characteristics
- Native to the Cyclades, centred on Santorini
- Late budding and late ripening
- Big clusters with berries wrapped in tough skins
- Drought tolerant but prone to powdery and downy mildew
- Lower acidity and alcohol than Assyrtiko
Typical flavors
Major regions
Santorini · Paros · Naxos · Amorgos
Also known as
Adani · Aedano Leyko · Aïdani Aspro · Aïdani Blanc · Aïdani Lefko · Aspaedano · Aspraïdano · Moschaïdano
Aidani (also written Aïdani) is a white-berried vine of the Cycladic islands, grown chiefly on volcanic Santorini. Across the island it is overshadowed by Assyrtiko, which supplies the structure of nearly every Santorini white, but Aidani brings a different register: perfumed, rounder, more openly fruity, and lower in acidity. In the cellar it has traditionally been a blending component rather than a headline grape, and the Santorini appellation rules still treat it that way.
Its profile has been shifting. Since 2003 a handful of estates have bottled Aidani on its own, some picking ripe for a plush dry wine and others concentrating the juice. Plantings remain modest, roughly in the tens of hectares by local estimates, so volumes are small and most bottles are consumed within Greece or on the islands themselves.
Aidani comes from the Cyclades and is usually treated as a Santorini variety, although no genetic study has pinpointed exactly where it first arose. One alternative theory ties its name to Adana, a city in south-eastern Turkey. DNA profiling has found nothing to back a Turkish origin, so that idea rests only on a similarity of names. Its parents remain unknown.
Aidani is said to have figured in older island blends such as Aperanthitis, Malvasia and Naxos wines, but the support for this is traditional rather than documented. The question of berry colour is on firmer ground. Island growers have long described a dark-skinned Aidani Mavro (mavro meaning black) as a grape in its own right. Genetic comparison, however, suggests it is the same variety carrying a mutation for berry colour. The pale form, Aidani Aspro (aspro meaning white), and the dark form are therefore a single vine appearing in two colours, and nobody knows which of them came first. The white form is also called Adani, Aspraidano or Moschaidano, while the dark form goes by Mavraidano or Ithani Mavro.
Aidani has since moved across the Cycladic archipelago and is now found on Paros, Naxos and Amorgos in addition to Santorini.
Aidani buds late and ripens late, so harvest falls toward the end of the Santorini picking season. Its bunches are large and its berries thick-skinned, and left unchecked it crops generously, so yields need managing to avoid dilute fruit. The vine copes well with drought, an advantage on islands with scant rainfall, but it is vulnerable to both powdery mildew and downy mildew, which makes canopy airflow important. On Santorini it grows in the same pumice and ash soils as Assyrtiko, usually in the traditional low basket (kouloura) training that shelters fruit from the wind. Alcohol and acidity run lower than Assyrtiko, so growers who want freshness tend to pick earlier, while those after richness leave it longer.
Dry Santorini PDO wine must currently contain at least 85 percent Assyrtiko, and the remainder may be Athiri and Aidani, so Aidani appears as a minority partner in many bottles, adding floral lift and a rounder midpalate. Vinsanto, the island's sweet wine from sun-dried grapes, needs a minimum of 51 percent Assyrtiko, leaving a larger role for Aidani and Athiri; Hatzidakis and Sigalas are among the producers known for outstanding Vinsanto. Varietal dry Aidani is a recent development: Argyros Estate is credited with the first, in 2003, and Hatzidakis, which first planted Aidani in 1996, also bottles it. Styles range from fresh and aromatic to riper and weightier, and Argyros has used cryoextraction to concentrate the juice. The black form, Aidani Mavro, makes rosé on Paros (Moraitis) and is blended with Mandilaria in sun-dried reds such as Moraitis Amma, a 50:50 blend.
Where it grows
Santorini
The centre of production, with an estimated 30 hectares, about 2 to 5 percent of the island's vineyard by differing grower estimates. Aidani is a permitted minority component in dry Santorini PDO and in Vinsanto, and a few estates bottle it alone.
Paros
Home to very limited plantings of black Aidani Mavro, used by Moraitis for a varietal rosé and blended with Mandilaria for a sweet red wine.
Naxos
Small plantings are reported, and the island's historical wines are said to have included Aidani in the blend.
Amorgos
A minor presence on this small Cycladic island, one of the few places outside Santorini, Paros and Naxos where the vine is recorded.