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Privacy policyChampagne has plenty of room in Greece, especially alongside the country’s long lunches, seafood, island sunsets and late dinners. You’ll find it in restaurants, wine bars, hotels and other drinking spots, with the biggest concentration of options naturally found in cities and popular destinations.
But Greece is a country where it would be a shame to stick only to Champagne. Its wine culture is built around hundreds of indigenous grape varieties, many of which are rarely encountered outside Greece.
Greek wine is particularly interesting because so many of its grapes are genuinely local. Assyrtiko, Xinomavro, Agiorgitiko, Moschofilero and Malagousia are just a few names worth remembering, and they come from very different parts of the country.
If you’re on Santorini, Assyrtiko is the obvious one to look for. The grape is known for its high acidity and mineral character, and the island’s volcanic soils and distinctive basket-trained vines make the wines particularly recognisable. Santorini also has plenty of wineries where you can taste local wines right where they are produced.
For something sparkling, keep an eye out for Greek wines made using traditional methods. Moschofilero from the Mantinia plateau in the Peloponnese, for example, can be used to make both still and sparkling wines.
And then there’s the food. Greek cuisine gives you plenty of reasons to open a bottle of Champagne – oysters and seafood, grilled fish, prawns, salty cheeses and meze all make sense with bubbles. But local wines can be just as interesting with the dishes they grew up alongside.
Greece is a great country for drinking Champagne while discovering something completely different in the next glass. You can have Champagne with dinner in Athens, try Assyrtiko on Santorini and explore Xinomavro in northern Greece without ever leaving the country’s own wine traditions behind.
If you’re planning a wine-focused trip, don’t assume the islands are your only option. Naoussa in northern Greece is known for Xinomavro, while the Peloponnese, Crete, Macedonia and the Aegean islands all have their own grape varieties and wine traditions.
And if you discover a Champagne spot that isn’t on our map, add it to Champagne Hunters. You can also comment on existing listings with useful updates – your little bit of local knowledge might save someone else a lot of searching.
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Santorini/Thira, Greece
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Add a spotChampagne is available in Greece alongside a strong local wine culture. It tends to fit particularly naturally into the country’s restaurant, hotel and celebration scene, while Greek wine itself offers a huge range of styles and indigenous grapes to explore.
Assyrtiko is a very good place to start, especially if you enjoy Champagne’s acidity and freshness. Santorini Assyrtiko can have pronounced mineral character alongside citrusy freshness.
Look for traditional-method sparkling wines made from Greek grapes. Moschofilero from Mantinia in the Peloponnese is one interesting example, as the grape is used for both still and sparkling wines.
There isn’t really one answer, which is part of the fun. Assyrtiko is strongly associated with Santorini, Xinomavro with northern Greece and Naoussa, while Agiorgitiko is one of the key grapes of the Peloponnese. Greece has hundreds of indigenous varieties, so there’s a lot more to discover.
Assyrtiko is the obvious starting point. It keeps its high acidity even when fully ripe and is known for its freshness and mineral character. Santorini’s vineyards are also distinctive, with vines trained close to the ground in basket-shaped formations to protect them from the island’s strong winds.
Xinomavro is the grape to look for, particularly around Naoussa. It’s a distinctive red variety with plenty of acidity and is one of the defining grapes of northern Greek wine.
Greek seafood is an easy match – oysters, prawns, grilled fish and other fresh seafood all work naturally with Champagne. You can also try it with salty cheeses and meze for something less predictable.
