Santorini Wine & Food Tours
Santorini makes one of the world’s most distinctive wines: Assyrtiko grown in volcanic ash, the vines coiled into basket shapes against the wind, bone-dry and mineral, with the sun-dried sweet Vinsanto alongside — and it is tasted at cliff-top wineries over the caldera. This is our Santorini hub. Below are the top-rated wine and food experiences, then our cooking page.
Top-rated Santorini wine and food experiences
Sunset wine tours and food tastings
Why Santorini? Because its volcanic, phylloxera-free vineyards and ancient basket-trained vines make a wine you can taste nowhere else, poured with one of the great views in the Mediterranean.
Formats: winery tours with tastings of Assyrtiko and Vinsanto; sunset wine tours across three estates; food-and-wine tastings with local meze; cooking classes with a caldera view (see its own page).
What to taste: dry Assyrtiko, Nykteri and Vinsanto; and the island’s food — fava, white aubergine, tomatokeftedes, caper leaves and chloro cheese.
Volcanic wine and basket vines
Santorini’s vineyards are like nowhere else. The soil is volcanic ash and pumice with no clay, so the vine louse phylloxera never took hold and many vines are ungrafted and very old. To survive the fierce wind and catch the humidity, growers train the vines into a low basket, the kouloura, with the grapes protected inside. The signature grape is Assyrtiko — bone-dry, high in acid, saline and mineral — with Athiri and Aidani. A winery tour explains the method and pours it looking over the caldera.
Vinsanto and the island’s food
The island’s historic wine is Vinsanto, made from Assyrtiko and Aidani sun-dried on mats to concentrate the sugar, then aged for years into a deep, sweet, barrel-aged wine — the original “wine of Santorini” exported for centuries. The food is volcanic too: the yellow split-pea purée fava (PDO), the sweet white aubergine, tomatokeftedes (tomato fritters), caper leaves and the soft chloro cheese, all made for the wine.
How to do it
Wineries cluster around Pyrgos, Megalochori and Emporio in the island’s centre; sunset tours visit two or three with a driver so you can taste freely and end over the caldera. Book ahead in summer. To cook the island’s dishes, see our Santorini cooking classes, and for the wider country, the Greece hub.
Frequently asked questions
What wine is Santorini famous for?
Dry, mineral Assyrtiko from its volcanic soil, and the sweet sun-dried Vinsanto; both are tasted at cliff-top wineries over the caldera.
Why are the vines shaped like baskets?
The kouloura basket protects the grapes from Santorini’s fierce wind and traps humidity in a near-rainless climate — an ancient method unique to the island.
Is a Santorini wine tour worth it?
Yes; the vineyards and grape are genuinely unique, the wineries are set over the caldera, and sunset tours combine several estates with the island’s best view.
Read next: Santorini Assyrtiko explained
How we choose
We list only experiences with a strong rating over a meaningful number of reviews and free cancellation where available, and we favour small-group and family-run hosts. FindEatLocal earns a commission when you book through GetYourGuide or Viator links on this page; it doesn’t change the price you pay. More about how we choose.