Athens Wine Bar Quarter - Modern Wine Culture

How to Complete

5 steps curated by Wine Memories

1. 📜 1

   Read the Amphorae at Monastiraki — Wine Traded Here 2,500 Years Ago

   history Free

   The Phoenicians arrived in Greece around 1550 BCE carrying amphorae of Canaanite wine, and they taught the Greeks three things: winemaking, viticulture, and shipbuilding. Athens' port of Piraeus then became the Mediterranean's dominant wine trading hub from the 5th century BCE. Every February, Athenians carried wine jars through these exact streets during the Anthesteria festival — a citywide drinking contest to honor Dionysus. Stand in Monastiraki Square (37.9764, 23.7244), face the ancient Agora. Walk 200 meters west into the Agora archaeological site (entry €10) — or simply walk the surrounding streets, noting the ceramic and antique stalls that sell amphora replicas. These are not decorations. They are the containers that moved wine from Crete, Santorini, and Lemnos across the ancient Mediterranean. Pick one up. Ask the vendor what it holds. Watch their face when you say: 'My guidebook says the Phoenicians taught your ancestors to make wine.'

   🔄 BACKUP: If the Agora is closed, Monastiraki Square itself and the view toward the Acropolis deliver the same sense of time compression. The flea market stalls are free to browse.

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2. 🍷 2

   Taste the Grape One Man Saved from Extinction at Heteroclito

   wine $$

   Heteroclito opened in 2012 with one mission: Greek wines only. All 200 labels, all 20–30 by-the-glass selections, nothing from outside Greece. This is where you ask for Malagousia — the white grape that a single professor saved from extinction in the 1970s. Professor Vassilis Logothetis found the last surviving vines in a village called Nafpaktia and handed cuttings to his student Vangelis Gerovassiliou. If Logothetis had retired a decade earlier, you would never have tasted this wine. Walk to Heteroclito (Fokionos 2 & Petraki 30, Athens 10563, GPS: 37.97559, 23.73056) — a 12-minute walk from Monastiraki Square through the historic center. Open from 18:00. Walk in without a reservation and tell the sommelier: 'I want to understand Greek wine — what would you pour me first?' They'll lead you through a sequence. If they have Limnio (Homer's grape — literally mentioned by Homer in the Iliad), order it.

   🔄 BACKUP: If Heteroclito is at capacity, Kiki de Grèce (Ipitou 4, GPS: 37.9744, 23.7319) is 7 minutes away and serves 42+ exclusively Greek labels from €4.50/glass in a similarly intimate setting.

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3. 🍷 3

   Descend Into the Cellar of Greece's Best Sommelier at Oinoscent

   wine $$

   Oinoscent opened in 2008 — Athens' first wine bar. Today its co-owner is Aris Sklavenitis, the Best Sommelier of Greece in 2016 AND 2019, who represented Greece at the World Sommelier Competition in both 2019 and 2023. He built a cellar under this building that holds 1,000+ labels. This is the place to taste Xinomavro from Naoussa — the red that everyone compares to Barolo but shouldn't, because in 1831 a French artist wrote 'the wine of Naoussa is to Macedonia what Burgundy wine is to France.' It came FIRST. Walk to Oinoscent (45–47 Voulis Street, Syntagma, Athens 10558, GPS: 37.97403, 23.73214) — a 6-minute walk from Heteroclito toward Syntagma Square. Ask for the bar seating if Sklavenitis is present — he's occasionally behind the bar and will pour for you directly. Request the 'Intro to Greek wine' tasting (5 wines; ask about current pricing ~€25–35). The benchmark pour: Dalamara Naoussa — the producer Sklavenitis calls essential.

   🔄 BACKUP: If fully booked, request bar seating — Oinoscent almost always has space at the bar. Alternative: Psyche Wine Bar (Kornarou 4, GPS: 37.9760, 23.7290) where sommelier Lambros Siafakas pours 17 rotating by-the-glass Greek and international wines with the same level of passion.

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4. ⛰️ 4

   Find the Wine Bar Hidden in an 1825 Arcade and Taste Through 80 Wines by Coravin

   adventure $$

   This building was constructed in 1825 — before the Greek state formally existed. It's now a wine bar with 500+ labels and approximately 80 available by the glass using Coravin — a pressurized argon system that lets you extract wine without pulling the cork, so the bottle remains perfectly preserved. There are wines on this list that would cost you €200–400 to buy a bottle of. By the Glass sells them for €15–40 per glass. Walk into the Stoa Ralli arcade (By the Glass, Stoa Ralli, G. Souri 3 & Filellinon, Syntagma, Athens 10557, GPS: approx. 37.9735, 23.7340) near the National Gardens entrance — it's easy to miss. Ask for the Coravin list — they will hand you a separate menu. Pick one wine from 'wines you could not open yourself' — something aged 8+ years, something from a small Greek producer making fewer than 1,000 bottles. This is the access reveal of the evening: you are tasting wine that doesn't exist in the outside world.

   🔄 BACKUP: If By the Glass is fully booked for bar seating, Cinque Wine & Deli (10 Voreou Street, Monastiraki, GPS: 37.9764, 23.7244) offers a similar Coravin-and-wine-flights concept closer to Monastiraki Square, with wine flights of 3–5 glasses at 75ml each.

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5. ⛰️ 5

   Walk Into Psyrri at Midnight and Find the Wine Bar That Plays Rembetika

   Optional

   adventure $

   Psyrri was Athens' leather and tanning district — blacksmiths, bootmakers, the working-class heart of the city. For decades it had a reputation for criminal activity. Then the 2004 Olympics money arrived, bars opened in the old workshops, street art covered the walls, and the neighborhood flipped. Tonight, Iroon Square is packed with young Athenians at outdoor tables. Some of the bars here play rembetika — Greek blues, the music of the dispossessed, that was banned by the dictatorship and survived underground. Walk to Psyrri neighborhood, centered on Iroon Square (Athens, GPS: 37.9775, 23.7219) — 5 minutes north from Monastiraki through the pedestrian zone. Arrive after 22:00. Walk Iroon Square and the streets radiating from it. If you hear live music coming from a small venue, walk in. Order whatever the bar serves by the glass — ask for something 'Greek and local.' If you find Savvatiano, order it: this is the wine of Attica, the wine of the symposium, the wine Athenians drank before anyone else knew what wine was.

   🔄 BACKUP: If Psyrri feels too quiet (it varies by season), the same atmosphere exists in the streets around Monastiraki Square after 22:00, with outdoor bars and occasional street musicians. Warehouse wine bar in nearby Exarcheia (Valtetsiou area, GPS: 37.9840, 23.7317) offers 100 wines by the glass in a similarly gritty-authentic setting.

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Insider Tips

• ✦

  By the Glass offers an excellent introduction to Greek indigenous varieties

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  Oinoscent specializes in natural and biodynamic Greek wines

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  Visit after 6 PM when the neighborhood comes alive