Carved into cliffs above Athinios, Venetsanos Winery pours centuries of Santorini’s terroir into every bottle.
There are places in Santorini where the landscape seems to speak first and the wine second. At Venetsanos, the conversation happens all at once. The winery is chiselled into the cliffs above Athinios, the island’s main port, where the sea is a sheet of hammered silver and the volcano sits like a punctuation mark at the end of the horizon. From the terraces, the caldera drops away and the same wind that rises with the briny breath of the Aegean has long shaped the island’s vines and the lives around them.
Where the sky meets the sea and the earth greets life force, the vines bestow their fate to the sun.
Built in 1947 by the Venetsanos family, Venetsanos became the island’s first industrial winery, a feat of both necessity and ingenuity. Electricity was scarce then, so the family turned to gravity, constructing the winery from the top down. Grapes, must and wine moved level by level through the rock-hewn cellars, using the slope of the cliff as a natural engine. The restored buildings still show this clever choreography - a quiet masterclass in sustainable design decades before the word became fashionable.
Today the winery hums with a contemporary rhythm, but the tour still starts with the story as expert guides walk visitors through the original passages and tanks, explaining how this cliffside organism worked and how it works now. Part of the experience feels like stepping into a wine museum: historic presses, tools and fermentation vats are displayed across the winery’s four levels, bringing Santorini’s first industrial winery vividly to life.
At Venetsanos, gravity isn’t only a technique, it is a feeling of being gently pulled into the island’s past.
Guided tours take visitors on a 20-minute journey across the winery’s four levels, revealing how the original gravity-fed process worked and how it has been preserved alongside modern winemaking techniques. Tasting flights unfold on sunlit terraces with light local dishes - think cheese platters, fresh salads, stuffed vine leaves and Santorini’s signature tomato fritters - the view as much a pairing as the plates. At golden hour, the Sunset Terrace becomes a theatre; a glass catches the last light and you remember why people cross oceans just for a single sip of place.
Understanding Santorini’s Wines
To understand the wines in your glass you need to know the vineyard. Santorini’s viticulture is an act of resilience against heat, salt and relentless wind. Vines here are trained low to the ground in the famous kouloura basket - a coiled wreath that shelters the fruit within its own embrace, minimising wind damage and sun-burn while trapping precious moisture from sea mists. Many of these vines are ancient and ungrafted; phylloxera never colonised the island’s volcanic soils, leaving roots to sink deep into pulverised pumice and ash. The result is a singular expression of terroir - saline, mineral, tensile.
Assyrtiko is the headline grape and the backbone of so many Santorini wines, but the supporting cast matters: Aidani and Athiri bring perfume and ease; rare reds like Mavrotragano and Mandilaria add spice and structure to rosé and red bottlings. Venetsanos manages vineyards across the island with a focus on these indigenous varieties, continuing a grower tradition that predates the winery itself.
A Tale of Two Traditions: Nykteri and Vinsanto
Santorini’s most storied names tell you when and how a wine is made. Nykteri takes its name from the night; historically grapes were harvested and pressed after dark to preserve freshness in the heat. The style is typically Assyrtiko-led with Aidani and Athiri, aged to build texture while keeping that hallmark island grip. In recent years, producers have returned to these pre-industrial cues, giving Nykteri a proud modern voice.
Vinsanto is Santorini’s sweet poetry - sun-dried white grapes laid on mats for nearly a week, concentrating sugars and soul, then slowly fermented and aged to a burnished glow. Expect notes of fig, honey, roasted nuts and bitter chocolate, a finish that refuses to hurry. This is the island’s holy wine in every sense, a tradition with medieval echoes and ancient roots in passos, the sun-dried wines of antiquity.
Tasting the View
A visit to Venetsanos is both museum and moment. The Main Hall Terrace hosts guided tastings with local pairings, while the Sunset Terrace is for lingering with a bottle, a breeze, and the choreography of boats tracing the caldera. The team’s tour stitches heritage to technique, showing how gravity has been honoured in an era of stainless steel and precision. For travellers building a day around wine, Venetsanos sits comfortably in a classic Santorini route with nearby estates; many curated tours weave the winery into a trio of stops, pairing technical insight with postcard views.
Its 250-square-metre open terrace also makes Venetsanos one of Santorini’s most sought-after settings for weddings, receptions and private dinners, its caldera backdrop as unforgettable as the wines themselves.
Planning Tips
Tip #1 - Reserve ahead during peak months; sunset sessions fill quickly. Many operators offer hotel pick-up and small-group itineraries combining Venetsanos with two other vineyards.
Tip #2 - Allow time to walk the original gravity levels before your tasting; the narrative brings the wines into sharp focus.
Tip #3 - Taste across styles - a linear, mineral Assyrtiko, a structured Nykteri, and Vinsanto to close - for a mini-survey of the island’s range.
Tip #4 - The iconic Sunset Terrace is open from May to mid-October, so time your visit accordingly if the sunset experience is on your list.
Myth, Memory and the Spirit of Hospitality
Wine on Santorini has always been a conversation between people and a difficult, beautiful place. In the Classical imagination, Dionysus walked in vineyards that clung to hard soil and punishing light; here, the god of wine would have recognised something austere and clean, wine that tastes of salt and stone. In the 20th century, families like the Venetsanos channelled that ancient grit into industry, exporting wine to markets as far as Russia and building new infrastructure into old rock. The revival and refinement of historic styles like Nykteri and the careful stewardship of old vines speak to a culture that sees progress as continuity rather than rupture.
Venetsanos wines are now exported across Europe, the USA and Canada, allowing travellers to relive their Santorini experience long after leaving the island.
“Santorini makes you believe that elegance is born of restraint — vines kept low, wines kept honest, a cliff that tells you where to stop.”
If You Go
Where: Megalochori, above Athinios port, a short drive from Fira. The location is ideal for pairing tastings with a caldera walk or a late dinner.
What to book: A guided tour with tasting on the Main Hall Terrace, and, if time allows, a sunset glass on the upper terrace.
What to look for: Mentions of basket-trained vines in the vineyard talk, a Nykteri on the list for texture, and a Vinsanto to anchor the memory.
As the sun slips into the Aegean and the last glass is raised, all that’s left is to make a toast.
Yamas, to the ancient god of the vine and to the hands that keep the baskets low and the wines true.
Contact and Bookings: venetsanoswinery.com | info@venetsanoswinery.com | +30 22860 21100 | Instagram: @venetsanoswinerysantorini
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