Santorini Wine: Which Wineries and Tours Are Worth It

By DiChatz

The Santorini wine worth crossing the island for is Assyrtiko, a bone-dry, salty white grown in volcanic ash on vines coiled into low baskets, followed by Vinsanto, the sun-dried sweet wine the island has made for centuries. The best way to taste both is three wineries in one afternoon: one caldera terrace (Santo Wines or Venetsanos), one serious estate (Estate Argyros or Domaine Sigalas) and one small family cellar, either on a €60–95 small-group tour or on your own with a sober driver for €8–30 a tasting.

This guide is for anyone choosing between a tour and a do-it-yourself day, fitting the right wineries into a short stay, or visiting between November and March, when half the cellar doors close.

The real choice on a Santorini wine day is not which winery. It is who drives. My rule is simple: if someone in your group is happy to stay on water, rent a small car and book the tastings yourself. If everyone wants to taste, take a small-group tour and stop thinking about it. You give up some freedom on a tour and some wine on a self-drive day, so pick the one that matches your group. Either way, I would never skip Estate Argyros for the Vinsanto, and I would save the caldera terrace for last, when the light is low.

What makes Santorini wine different

Santorini’s vineyards grow on aspa, a mix of pumice, ash and volcanic rock left by the Bronze Age eruption. It holds almost no organic matter and almost no clay, which is why the phylloxera louse that wiped out most of Europe’s vines never took hold here. Many vines are on their own roots, and the root systems are often centuries older than the shoots you see. Summer rain is rare, so the plants live on winter rainfall and the sea mist that rolls in at night.

The vines are trained into a kouloura, a basket woven from the plant’s own canes and pruned close to the ground. From the road it looks like a pile of brush. Inside, the grapes hang out of the summer wind, and the leaves shade them from a sun that would otherwise scorch them. Yields are tiny, and that concentration is what you taste.

The grapes and styles you will meet

• Assyrtiko: the backbone of the island and most of the vineyard area. High acidity, lemon and flint, a saline finish. Good examples age for ten years and more.
• Aidani and Athiri: softer, more aromatic white grapes, often blended with Assyrtiko to round it out.
• Nykteri: from “nychta”, night, because the grapes were once picked and pressed in the cool of the night. Today it means a fuller Assyrtiko-based white aged in oak.
• Vinsanto: grapes dry in the sun for about two weeks until they shrivel, then the wine ages for years in barrel. Dark amber, dried fig, coffee and orange peel, with enough acidity to stop it feeling heavy.
• Mavrotragano: a red grape that nearly disappeared a few decades ago. Firm, dark-fruited and the best red the island makes. Mandilaria is the other local red, lighter and more rustic.

Why Santorini wine costs more than it used to

If an older guide promised you a €5 tasting, it was written before the drought. Santorini’s grape harvest fell from 2,756 tons in 2022 to around 551 tons in 2025, after several dry winters in a row. Winemakers now pay growers about €10 per kilo, among the highest grape prices in Europe. The 2026 harvest was smaller still, at roughly 300 to 350 tons by the early estimates: very small, and by most accounts very good.

For a visitor, that means tasting fees have climbed every year since 2023, top cuvées are often poured only in the premium flights, and some single-vineyard bottles sell out at the cellar door before autumn. The island is also piloting vineyard irrigation with treated wastewater, a project that may decide what Santorini wine looks like in ten years. A standard bottle of Assyrtiko costs about €12–25 at the winery, more for Nykteri, single-vineyard wines and aged Vinsanto.

The best Santorini wineries to visit

The wineries cluster in a few villages, so plan by area rather than by name. Prices below are 2026 cellar-door rates. Winter hours shift week to week, so confirm by phone or email before driving out between November and March.

Winery	Village	Taste this	Tastings from	Booking	November to March
Santo Wines	Pyrgos	Nykteri, Vinsanto	€12 (tour and 2 wines); flights about €18–70	Walk in	Reduced days; check first
Venetsanos Winery	Megalochori	Assyrtiko, Mandilaria	About €12–28	Book for sunset	Terrace closed from mid-October
Estate Argyros	Episkopi Gonia	Cuvée Monsignori, aged Vinsanto	€25 (4 wines)	Book ahead	Check first
Domaine Sigalas	Baxedes, Oia	Kavalieros Assyrtiko	About €12	Appointment only	By reservation
Hatzidakis Winery	Pyrgos	Assyrtiko de Mylos, Nykteri	About €20 (6 wines, cheese)	Appointment only	Weekdays, reservation only
Boutari Winery	Megalochori	Kallisti, Vinsanto	About €15	Walk in for basic flights	Shorter hours, roughly 10:00–15:00
Gavalas Winery	Megalochori	Katsano, Voudomato	About €10 (3 wines)	Walk in	Closed until April
Gaia Wines	Exo Gialos, Kamari	Thalassitis Assyrtiko	Ask when booking	Book ahead	Check first
Art Space	Exo Gonia	Vinsanto, plus the gallery	Ask when booking	Appointment only	Appointment only
Koutsoyannopoulos Wine Museum	Vothonas	Volcan Wines range	€30 (museum, 4 wines and snacks)	Walk in	Check first

Pyrgos and Megalochori: the caldera side

Santo Wines is the cooperative of Santorini’s grape growers and the most visited winery on the island. It sits on the caldera rim just below Pyrgos, with a long terrace facing Fira and Oia across the water. A short tour of the production area with two tastings is €12, and flights run from about €18–20 for the basic set to €55–70 for the top selections. No reservation is needed for a standard tasting, so it is the easiest stop if you are short on time. The wines are reliable rather than thrilling, and the terrace is packed before sunset in summer. Come in the early afternoon and you get the same view with a table.

Venetsanos Winery is the most beautiful building in Santorini wine. It was built in 1947 into the cliff above Athinios port, designed so the grapes moved down through the levels by gravity, and the family has restored and reopened it. Its terrace is the calmer alternative to Santo for sunset. Basic flights cost about €12–28, and a six-wine tasting is around €50, or €55 with a light meal. The sunset terrace runs from May to mid-October.

Hatzidakis Winery, in a cave cellar near Pyrgos, built its name on low-intervention Assyrtiko from old vines. It is a working winery rather than a visitor centre, so visits are strictly by appointment, and the tasting is quieter and more technical: about €20 for six wines with a cheese platter. Book it if you already like Assyrtiko and want to see how far it can go.

Megalochori, a short drive south, has two more. Boutari Winery is the Santorini outpost of one of Greece’s big wine houses, with a modern tasting room and flights from about €15 for 45 minutes up to €85 for a 90-minute premium tasting. Gavalas Winery is the opposite: a family canava with an old stone press, rare local grapes such as Katsano and Voudomato, and some of the lowest prices on the island, about €10, €15 or €20 for three, five or seven wines. Gavalas opens from April to October. Megalochori is also the prettiest village in wine country, so a late lunch in its square fits neatly between tastings.

Episkopi Gonia and Exo Gonia: the serious estates

Estate Argyros is the producer most wine people would pick if they could visit only one. The family has farmed here since 1903, owns some of the oldest vines on the island and is known above all for Vinsanto aged in barrel for decades. Its 20-year barrel-aged Vinsanto is the most decorated sweet wine in Greece, with scores in the high 90s from every critic who has rated it. Taste the Cuvée Monsignori, an old-vine Assyrtiko, then any aged Vinsanto they pour.

Canava Roussos, a few minutes away, is one of the oldest family wineries on Santorini, in business since 1836. The cellar is traditional and the pace unhurried, a good contrast after Argyros.

Up the road in Exo Gonia, Art Space is a 19th-century canava turned into a contemporary art gallery, its tunnels hung with sculpture and painting. It is appointment only. Artemis Karamolegos Winery, nearby, pairs a strong range (try the Pyritis Assyrtiko) with its own restaurant, Aroma Avlis, the best lunch stop on a wine day. Mikra Thira is a tiny producer with vines on Thirasia, the small island across the caldera; visits are by appointment only and worth arranging for the rarity of the wines.

Kamari and Vothonas: the east side

Gaia Wines sits on the beach at Exo Gialos, just north of Kamari Beach, in an old tomato-processing factory. Its Thalassitis Assyrtiko is one of the island’s best-known wines, and one version is aged in cages on the seabed. Tastings happen almost on the sand, so it pairs well with an afternoon swim.

The Koutsoyannopoulos Wine Museum in Vothonas, run by the family behind Volcan Wines, is a long underground tunnel tracing four centuries of winemaking on the island. The basic package costs €30 per person and includes entry, an audio guide or guidebook, four wines and snacks. It is a good first stop for anyone new to Greek wine and a useful option on a hot or windy day.

Not a winery, but nearby: the Santorini Brewing Company makes the Donkey beers on every taverna menu, a fair stop for anyone in the group who would rather drink beer.

Oia and the north

Domaine Sigalas stands on flat vineyard land at Baxedes, below Oia, and it is the top estate in the north. Founder Paris Sigalas helped define modern Santorini Assyrtiko, and the Kavalieros single-vineyard white is one of Greece’s great wines. In season it opens daily from 11:00 to 21:00, with tastings from about €12 by reservation. The two-hour gastronomy experience, ten labels paired with food for around €100, is the best wine meal on the island. Vassaltis Vineyards, in Vourvoulos on the east side between Fira and Oia, is a newer, design-led winery with a clean, modern house style and small plates alongside the tasting.

Wine tour or do-it-yourself: the honest maths

A standard guided Santorini wine tour costs €60–95 per person, takes four to five hours and visits three wineries with twelve to fifteen wines in total, plus cheese, bread and tomatoes. Sunset and premium versions run €140–150. A sunset tour with dinner costs about €170 per adult, and private tours start at roughly €480 for two.

On your own, a tasting costs €8–30 depending on the winery and the flight, so three tastings come to roughly €25–90 per person. Add a small rental car for the day, roughly €40–80 in summer plus fuel, and much less from November. Here is how it works out:

• A couple where one person drives: €25–90 in tastings for one drinker plus the car, about €65–170 in total, against €120–190 for two on a group tour. The do-it-yourself day wins, and you choose the wineries.
• A couple who both want to taste: the tour wins. Nobody drives, and a taxi between three villages in summer is unreliable and expensive.
• Four friends with one sober driver: three people’s tastings plus one car usually costs less than half the price of four tour seats.
• Solo travellers: the tour, every time. You pay for the transport either way, and the group fills the gaps.

Transport is the catch. Greece’s drink-drive limit is 0.5 g/l of blood, 0.2 g/l for newly licensed and professional drivers, and police checks on the island are common. Three tastings put most people over the line. Taxis are scarce in high season and hard to find in the villages after dark.

Option	Price per person	Length	Best for
Small-group Santorini wine tour	€60–95	4–5 hours	First-timers who want three wineries and a guide
Santorini sunset wine tour	€140–150	4–5 hours	Couples who want the caldera at sunset
Private Santorini winery tour	From €480 for two	Flexible	Serious drinkers who want to choose the wineries
Self-drive with a sober driver	€8–30 per tasting	Your pace	Couples or groups with a non-drinker

The verdict: if one person is happy not to drink, or you only want one or two wineries, go on your own. If everyone wants to taste, or you have one afternoon and no car, the tour pays for itself in transport alone, and a good guide explains the kouloura, the Vinsanto drying and the drought in a way that makes the wine taste better. For most visitors the safest first pick is a small group with pickup from Fira or Oia: book a small-group Santorini wine tour with hotel pickup.

Which Santorini wine tour suits you

The tour type matters more than the operator, because most of them visit the same dozen wineries.

• Couples on a short stay: the sunset tour. It costs about twice the daytime version, and you are paying for the timing and the final terrace, usually Santo or Venetsanos. If you already have a caldera-view room, take the daytime tour and keep the money.
• Serious wine drinkers: a private tour built around Estate Argyros, Domaine Sigalas and one appointment-only cellar such as Hatzidakis or Art Space. Group tours rarely reach those.
• Cruise passengers: choose a tour that picks up at the top of the Fira cable car or at Athinios, and check the drop-off time against your last tender. A morning tour is safer than a sunset one, which can run past all-aboard.
• Budget travellers: the Koutsoyannopoulos Wine Museum (€30 with four wines) plus a Gavalas tasting from €10 makes a cheap, honest introduction by bus and on foot.
• Families: a self-drive day works better than a group tour. Karamolegos and Gaia have food and space, and children can see the barrels and presses while adults taste.

Visiting the wineries out of season

From November to March Santorini is a different island. Most hotels in Oia and Imerovigli close, ferries thin out and family wineries such as Gavalas shut until April. Hatzidakis receives visitors on weekdays only, by reservation, roughly 8:30 to 16:30. Boutari has kept shorter winter hours, around 10:00 to 15:00. Venetsanos closes its terrace from mid-October, Santo Wines runs reduced days, and several wineries close for whole weeks around Christmas and January.

The upside is that the wineries still open are quiet, and the winemaker or a family member often pours for you. Email or message two or three wineries a day or two ahead, hire a car (rates drop sharply after October) and plan around the estates rather than the terraces: Argyros, Sigalas, Hatzidakis and the wine museum make a strong winter day. Group tours run on fewer days and often need a minimum number of guests, so a private tour or self-drive day is more reliable in winter.

Harvest season and the best months to go

Santorini’s harvest is one of the earliest in Europe. Picking usually runs through August, and in hot years it finishes before September, as it did in 2026. Harvest tours, where you pick grapes and tread them before tasting, run in August and early September in small numbers and sell out.

For tastings alone, May, June, late September and October are the best months: the terraces are open, the light is softer and the roads around Pyrgos are less clogged. July and August are hot, crowded and windy in the afternoons. For crowds, sea temperatures and prices month by month, see the best time to visit Santorini.

Planning a self-drive Santorini wine day

The wineries sit within about twenty minutes of each other, apart from Domaine Sigalas in the north. A loop that works:

1. Late morning: Estate Argyros in Episkopi Gonia, while your palate is fresh for the Vinsanto.
2. Midday: the Koutsoyannopoulos Wine Museum in Vothonas, cool underground in the heat.
3. Lunch: Aroma Avlis at Artemis Karamolegos Winery in Exo Gonia, with a tasting alongside.
4. Afternoon: Gavalas or Boutari in Megalochori, then a walk round the village.
5. Sunset: Venetsanos or Santo Wines on the caldera, with the driver on water.

Swap Argyros for Domaine Sigalas if you are staying in Oia. Book appointment-only wineries at least a few days ahead in summer, and use the spittoon without embarrassment; at five stops it is the only way to taste properly.

Santorini’s public buses run from the Fira bus station to most villages; timetables are on the KTEL Santorini website. They work for one or two wineries near a stop, not for a full loop. For a full day with a designated driver, a small car is the practical answer: compare Santorini car rental prices on Discover Cars. Parking is easy at the estates and tight in Pyrgos and Megalochori, so leave the car on the edge of the village and walk in.

What to eat with Santorini wine

The island’s food was made for its wine. Order Santorini fava (yellow split pea purée), tomatokeftedes (fritters made with the small, intense local tomatoes) and grilled white aubergine with a young Assyrtiko; the acidity cuts straight through the olive oil. Nykteri stands up to grilled fish and chloro, the soft local goat’s cheese. Keep Vinsanto for the end, with walnuts, a dry biscuit or a sharp aged cheese rather than a sugary dessert.

Where to stay for a Santorini wine trip

There are two sensible bases, and they suit different people.

Fira or Imerovigli is the first-timer’s base. Fira is the bus hub, every tour picks up there, restaurants stay open late and the caldera is at the doorstep. Imerovigli, a twenty-minute walk north along the caldera path, is quieter with some of the best views on the island. The drawback for a wine trip is that every winery is a drive away, and a caldera view costs a lot in summer.

Megalochori and Pyrgos is what Greeks tend to choose. These are the wine villages: Boutari, Gavalas and Venetsanos are walkable from Megalochori, and Santo Wines and Hatzidakis sit just outside Pyrgos. Both have caldera views from their edges, calm evenings and Fira or a beach fifteen minutes away by car. Kamari, on the east coast, is the third option for families: a long beach, Gaia Wines and the wine museum nearby, and lower prices.

Hotel	Area	Price	Best for
Vedema, a Luxury Collection Resort	Megalochori	€€€	Wine lovers who want to walk to three wineries; built around a 400-year-old winery
Zannos Melathron	Pyrgos	€€€	Couples who want a restored mansion and quiet evenings near Santo Wines
Aressana Spa Hotel and Suites	Fira	€€	First-timers who want caldera views and every tour pickup on the doorstep
Pelican Hotel	Fira	€	Budget stays in the centre, close to the bus station
Afroditi Venus Beach Hotel & Spa	Kamari	€€	Families who want a beach and Gaia Wines nearby

Best for a wine-focused trip: Megalochori. Best for a first visit with a few tastings mixed in: Fira. In winter, check that your hotel is open before you plan around a village; Fira and Kamari keep the most rooms open. For more options by village and budget, see the full guide to the best hotels in Santorini.

Getting to Santorini and to the wineries

Santorini airport sits on the east coast near Kamari, about ten minutes from Episkopi Gonia and twenty from Megalochori. Airport taxis are limited and the queue gets long when several flights land together, so a fixed-price transfer booked ahead is the easy way to your hotel: book a Santorini airport transfer with Welcome Pickups.

Ferries arrive at Athinios port, directly below Megalochori and the Venetsanos winery; the switchback road up from the port is the main road into wine country. From Piraeus the crossing takes about eight hours on Blue Star conventional ferries and around five on SeaJets high-speed boats, and there are links to Mykonos, Naxos, Paros and Crete. High-speed services are cut back sharply in winter. To compare times and fares across operators, use Ferryscanner to check ferries to Santorini.

Cruise ships anchor in the caldera and tender passengers to the old port below Fira, where the cable car climbs to the town. Most wine tours for cruise passengers start at the top of the cable car. On busy days the cable car queue can take an hour, so build in a wide margin on the way back, or walk down the 580-odd steps if you are fit and running late.

Santorini wine by boat

A caldera catamaran cruise is not a tasting, but it is the other way most visitors drink Santorini wine. Day and sunset cruises sail past the cliffs of Oia and Fira, stop at the volcano’s hot springs and the Red Beach area for swimming, and serve local white wine with a barbecue dinner on board. The wine is usually a straightforward island white rather than a top cuvée, so treat it as a sunset with a glass in hand rather than a lesson.

The sunset sailing sells out first in summer, so book a few days ahead and pair it with a daytime winery tour on another day: book a Santorini catamaran sunset cruise with dinner and wine.

Buying and drinking Santorini wine after the tastings

Buy at the cellar door. Bottles cost less there than in Fira’s shops, and wineries sell older vintages and small-batch wines you will not find elsewhere. A standard Assyrtiko is about €12–25 at the winery, while Vinsanto often comes in half bottles that travel well. After the short 2025 and 2026 harvests, buy the bottle you liked on the day rather than counting on finding it later. Pack bottles in checked luggage wrapped in clothes, or ask the winery for a padded carton.

In restaurants, Santorini wine lists favour the big names, and mark-ups at caldera-view tables are steep. Ask for a smaller producer by the glass, or order the house Assyrtiko in a village taverna away from the rim. If your trip ends in Athens, the city’s best wine bars pour Santorini Assyrtiko alongside wines from the rest of the country.

Before you go: common questions

Are Santorini wine tours worth it?

Yes, if everyone in your group wants to drink or you have no car. A €60–95 small-group tour covers three wineries, transport and a guide. If one person is happy to drive, a self-drive day with tastings at €8–30 each is cheaper and lets you pick the estates.

How many Santorini wineries can you visit in one day?

Three is the right number for most people, four or five at most if you use the spittoon. The wineries are within about twenty minutes of each other, apart from Domaine Sigalas near Oia.

Do I need to book Santorini wine tastings in advance?

Santo Wines, Gavalas, Boutari and the wine museum take walk-ins for standard tastings. Hatzidakis, Art Space, Domaine Sigalas and Mikra Thira are appointment only, and Estate Argyros and sunset tables at Venetsanos should be booked ahead in summer.

Are Santorini wineries open in winter?

Some are. Between November and March, Gavalas closes, Venetsanos shuts its sunset terrace, Hatzidakis opens on weekdays by reservation and others cut their hours. Contact wineries a day or two ahead and plan around the estates rather than the terraces.

Are children allowed on Santorini wine tours?

Most wineries welcome children, and some tour operators accept them at a reduced price, but children do not taste and a four-hour group tour can drag for them. Families usually do better with a self-drive day built around wineries with food and space, such as Artemis Karamolegos or Gaia Wines near Kamari.

Can I take Santorini wine home on the plane?

Yes, in checked luggage. Wrap bottles in clothing or ask the winery for a padded carton. Within the EU there is no practical limit for personal use; travellers to the US, UK and other non-EU countries should check their home allowance, as duty can apply above a set number of litres.