The museum contains animated life-size wax figures demonstrating every step of historical Santorini wine production: pruning, plowing with donkeys, harvesting by hand, foot-treading grapes in stone presses, barrel-making, distilling raki from grape pomace, and finally - loading wine barrels onto ships at the port for export to Russia, Odessa, and Western Europe. Santorini was a commercial wine exporter for centuries before tourism arrived. The figures move because the family understood that static exhibits don't hold attention underground in the dark. Inside the museum tunnel, mid-way through the labyrinth, the dioramas are positioned at intervals along the cave walls. Move slowly through each diorama and read the labels. The barrel-making scene is remarkably detailed - find the coopering tools. The loading-the-ships scene is the final stage in the production sequence: this is where Santorini wine met the outside world before roads or airports existed. This is free within your paid tasting entry.
🔄 BACKUP: The diorama labels are in multiple languages. If the audio guide in your language is unclear on any scene, the printed guide supplement covers all 21 scenes in 22 languages.