“Wine makes every meal an occasion, every table more elegant and every day more civilised” said André Simon, one of the most important writers about wine.
There is no need to highlight the fact that more and more people are getting closer to wine culture, wine production or, simply, wine tasting. Wine lovers are a fast growing community all over the world travelling by opening a bottle of wine even to places never seen, tasted or visited otherwise.
But occasionally they or better, we, really come closer to what we taste in a glass of wine. We travel to a specific place on earth to taste what this earth produces “in a wine manner of speaking”. We walk through the vineyards, we hear the stories of the place and its people, the wine producers, and of course, we taste the wines that each winery has to offer.
Most of the time we travel around Greece for a wine tour and sometimes, we happily discover that there are some wineries that can offer us something more. A connection with the generations long Greek history of wine, wine producing, greek varieties and contemporary methods, tools and, mainly, way of thinking to tell an interesting and substantial wine story.
From Athens to Thessaloniki, at the forefront of vineyards there are the Greek Wine Museums that catch the eye and highlight Greek wine worldwide.
Let's visit them together at a glance.
Oenotria Land – Domaine Costa Lazaridi
© Domaine Costa Lazaridi
Kostas Lazaridis passion for high quality wine and its history have made him one of the most recognisable Greek winemakers and collectors of vinification tools and vintage wine accessories from all around the world. His vision led him from his hometown Drama to Kapandriti, in the suburbs of Athens, to plant a new vineyard named Oenotria Gi (Land of the Wine) with grape varieties that honor the Greek soil.
Kostas Lazaridis Wine Museum consists of a celebration of the passion about wine where visitors learn about the process of growing and producing wine, grape spirits, and balsamic vinegar.
More specifically, the array of exhibits, dating as far back as the 17th Century AD, combined with specially designed audiovisual support materials, offer visitors the opportunity to interactively discover the long history of vine cultivation in Greece as well as wine distillation and balsamic vinegar production.
The Costa Lazaridi’s Oenotria Gi Wine Museum collection is a very comprehensive, concise and rigorous attempt to narrate not only the past, rich history and tradition of Greek wine but also its development and bloom till today.
Oenotria Land – Domaine Costa Lazaridi
2ο klm Kapandriti – Kalamos Rd
Kapandriti, Attica
Wine Tastings at Oenotria Land
Gerovassiliou Wine Museum
© Ktima Gerovassiliou
Located in the northern part of Greece, in Epanomi - Thessaloniki, the Gerovassiliou Vineyard and Wine Museum is one of the most distinguished Greek vineyards. The visitors have the opportunity to acknowledge the history of Greek wine and steps needed for vinification from vines plantation to wine bottling. But, our favorite and undoubtedly the most impressive part of Gerovassiliou Museum is its long hall that hosts one of the most prestigious collections in the world consisting of 2600 wine openers and of ancient agricultural tools collected in the wider area of Epanomi.
Gerovassiliou Wine Museum - Epanomi, Thessaloniki, Greece
Markou Vineyards Wine Museum
© Markou Vineyards
Markou Vineyards and Wine Museum is one of the most well known wineries in Attica. Visitors have the ability to enjoy an incomparable experience around wine history. Located in the Pallini area, it is considered to be the true gem of the whole wine experience apart from the wine tastings.
The underground rooms where the museum is hosted combine the architectural integrity and love for wine history of Markou’s family. Visitors will be able to admire rare wine culture exhibits, tools and old photographs from the Mesogean vineyards.
Markou Wine Museum - Ag.Dimitriou Avenue, Pallini, Attica
Koutsogiannopoulos Wine Museum
© Koutsogiannopoulos Winery
Located in the village of Kamari on Santorini Island, nestled in an underground cave, a natural labyrinth eight meters below the ground and 300 meters long. Koutsogiannopoulos Wine Museum unravels figuratively the history behind vining, the traditional process of wine cultivation, harvesting and trade. The museum was founded by the Koutsogiannopoulos family a few decades ago and offers a unique experience of the life and tradition of vine growers on the island from the 17th century until today.
Visitors can see all the stages of the winemaking process including ploughing in the vineyards, and then harvesting, stomping, and weighing the grapes. They also learn about rare machinery and tools that will transport them, as a kind of “wine time machine” back to a different time. They can also admire different apparels such as oakwood barrels that French monks and crushers brought while invading the island as well as wine tasting in the specially designed tasting room.
Wine Museum - Winery Koutsogiannopoulos, Vothonas Santorini