Ramnista
Producer: Ktima Kir Yianni
Kir-Yianni's flagship single-vineyard Naoussa PDO, aged 16-18 months in French oak from a lighter-soil block chosen for finesse over power.
Price: EUR28-38 at retail
On the slopes below Mount Vermio, the PDO Naoussa appellation grows one grape by law: high-acid, high-tannin Xinomavro, bottled by village and hillside site rather than blended away. Producers from the century-old Boutari house to small family cellars in Trilofos and Strantza work the same variety into wines that range from bright and early-drinking to decades-worthy reds critics have compared to Barolo.
Drink your way through Naoussa
Wine festivals coming up in Naoussa
All Naoussa wine festivalsMap of Naoussa
Every vineyard, tasting room, wine bar and cellar we cover in Naoussa, pinned. Click a pin for the page.
Signature wines of Naoussa
The iconic bottles that define Naoussa.
Diaporos
Producer: Ktima Kir Yianni
A Xinomavro-Syrah blend from a single estate block, riper and more concentrated than Kir-Yianni's Naoussa PDO wines, bottled under PGI Imathia.
Price: EUR35-45 at retail
Earth and Sky
Producer: Thymiopoulos Vineyards
Thymiopoulos's two-site Naoussa PDO blend from organic 45-year-old Xinomavro vines spanning 150 to 650 metres of altitude.
Price: EUR22-30 at retail
Vrana Petra
Producer: Thymiopoulos Vineyards
A fuller-bodied Naoussa PDO Xinomavro from Thymiopoulos, named for a dark rock outcrop on the estate.
Price: EUR20-26 at retail
Grande Reserve Naoussa
Producer: Boutari Naoussa
Boutari's long-aged Naoussa PDO reserve, four years of combined barrel and bottle age, Decanter-recognised.
Price: EUR22-30 at retail
Paliokalias
Producer: Dalamaras
Dalamaras's site-named Naoussa PDO from the family's organic Paliokalias vineyard, farmed since the 1840s.
Price: EUR20-28 at retail
Vineyards to know in Naoussa
A handful of the estates we send friends to when they are in Naoussa.
Ktima Kir-Yianni
Founded in 1997 by Yiannis Boutaris in Yiannakohori on the eastern slopes of Mount Vermio, Kir-Yianni works around 50 hectares of Naoussa PDO Xinomavro through microvinification and site-by-site blending.
Thymiopoulos Vineyards
Apostolos Thymiopoulos released his first vintage in 2005 after training in oenology, and now works ten separate Xinomavro bottlings from his base in Trilofos on the Vermio foothills.
Boutari Naoussa Winery
Founded in 1879 by Ioannis Boutaris, the house's Naoussa winery sits in the Stenimachos area on Vermio's eastern edge, making Naoussa PDO Xinomavro since Merlot and Syrah joined the plantings in the 1980s.
Dalamaras Winery
Now in its fifth generation, the Dalamara family farms Xinomavro organically at Paliokalias on Vermio's eastern foothills, a vineyard area worked since the 1840s, and runs a complete cellar-door visit.
VAENI Naoussa
The growers' cooperative behind much of the appellation's output, VAENI Naoussa has worked from Episkopi since 1984, bottling Naoussa, Naoussa Reserve and Grande Reserve alongside PGI wines from Merlot and Syrah.
Domaine Foundi
Founded in 1992 four kilometres outside Naoussa town in the Nea Strantza area, Domaine Foundi, registered as Fountis Nikolaos, farms mostly Xinomavro alongside small plantings of Merlot and Malvasia Aromatica.
Sub-appellations of Naoussa
Naoussa (Naoussa/Náousa/Νάουσα)
The appellation's namesake town, at the foot of Mount Vermio, where the corporate-scale houses and the town-based family cellars both keep an address.
Yiannakohori (Yiannakohori/Giannakochori/Γιαννακοχώρι)
A village on Vermio's eastern slopes best known outside Greece as the home of Kir-Yianni.
Trilofos (Trilofos/Τρίλοφος)
A foothill village known to wine drinkers mainly through a single grower's ten separate bottlings of the same grape.
Gastra (Gastra/Gastras Hill/Ano Gastra/Άνω Γκάστρα)
A hillside site above Naoussa, its upper reach known locally as Ano Gastra, regarded as one of the appellation's prime Xinomavro slopes.
Strantza (Strantza/Strantsa/Nea Strantza/Στράντζα)
A cluster of vineyard land outside town, home to two independently verified Naoussa producers.
Episkopi (Episkopi/Episkopi Naoussas/Επισκοπή Νάουσας)
A village within Naoussa municipality that hosts the appellation's cooperative winery.
Naoussa wine, FAQ
When is the best time to visit Naoussa for wine?
Peak wine-travel season in Naoussa is spring through autumn, with harvest the standout window.
Do I need an appointment to taste at Naoussa estates?
classified-growth and grand-cru estates require booking days to weeks ahead; smaller family domaines often take walk-ins midweek.
What hours do Naoussa cellars and tasting rooms keep?
most estates open 10:00 to 17:00 by appointment, often closed Sunday and Monday.
How does tipping work at Naoussa tastings?
tipping is not expected at tastings; buying a bottle from the cellar door is the customary thank-you.
What is the one wine to try in Naoussa?
If you only open one bottle, open Ramnista by Ktima Kir-Yianni. It is the wine most associated with Naoussa.