Battered by sea spray and baked by the sun, they have clung to the precipitous slopes and black volcanic grit of the island for more than 3,000 years.

But the prized vineyards of Santorini are now facing an existential threat from tourist overdevelopment as land is bought up on the Greek island for villa complexes, hotels and restaurants.

With rampant construction on the Aegean outcrop in the last few years, vineyards have been bought by developers and covered in concrete.

In the 1960s, Santorini boasted 3,000 hectares (7,500 acres) of vines but that figure has now plunged to just under 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres).

Production of grapes on the island, famed for its volcanic caldera, sugar-cube houses and sunset views, has dropped almost 50 per cent in the last 20 years, according to the Association of Winemakers of Santorini.

“The construction of tourism developments is threatening the unique landscape of the island,” Markos Kafouros, a local MP and the chairman of Santo Wines, one of the oldest wineries on Santorini, told The Telegraph.