25 editor-picked estates growing Xinomavro in Naoussa.
Where to taste Xinomavro in Naoussa: the estates that grow it, how the region expresses the grape, and how to book a visit.
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.
Tip: The estate's wines are widely distributed, so a bottle is often an easier find than a booked visit.
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.
Tip: Ten distinct Xinomavro expressions from one producer is an unusually good way to taste how much the grape varies by site.
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.
Tasting: Not open to the public; the estate handles visit and trade inquiries by email only.
Tip: The winery itself does not receive visitors, so taste the wines at a Naoussa restaurant or retailer instead.
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.
Tasting: Guided cellar-door visit through the vineyard garden, fermentation tanks, bottling area and ageing vault, ending in a tasting hall built around the family's traditional wine tools; tsipouro and olives served on request.
Tip: The visit route ends with a tasting among the family's old winemaking tools rather than a generic tasting counter.
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.
Tasting: Guided tours through the cooperative's cellar, with an on-site exhibition space and retail shop.
Tip: The on-site shop is a practical way to taste across the full Naoussa, Reserve and Grande Reserve range in one stop.
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.
Tasting: Open to visitors; the estate is a member of the Wine Roads of Northern Greece programme.
Tip: Being a Wine Roads of Northern Greece member means the cellar is set up for casual drop-in visitors, not just appointments.
Based twelve kilometres from town in the hillside village of Rodochori at 540 metres, Argatia bottles a Naoussa PDO Xinomavro alongside PGI whites and reds from Malagousia, Assyrtiko, Negoska and Mavrodaphne.
Tasting: Open to visitors at the winery in Rodochori.
Tip: The Malagousia and Assyrtiko whites are a useful contrast to the region's Xinomavro-only PDO reds.
Established in 1918 by cooper Dimitris Melitzani and now run by the third and fourth generations, Ktima Melitzani farms 2.2 hectares of organic Xinomavro on Gastra hill, one of the appellation's prime sites.
Tip: A century of continuous family ownership on a single named hillside is rare even by Naoussa standards.
A small Naoussa producer based in the Mantemi area, Diamantakos bottles Xinomavro under the Naoussa PDO while framing its work around the appellation's indigenous viticultural heritage.
Tip: The estate's trilingual site (Greek, English, French) points to an export-minded outfit despite its small size.
Farming in the Strantza area since the family's roots there in 1948, Ktima Chrisohoou makes Naoussa PDO Xinomavro through patient barrel ageing, alongside an events programme run from the same estate.
Tasting: Hosts weddings, baptisms and conferences alongside wine visits at the Strantza estate.
Tip: The estate doubles as an events venue, so a visit can coincide with a wedding or conference on-site.
Based in the Dalamari area of Naoussa, Kokkinos Winery bottles a Naoussa PDO Xinomavro alongside a wider PGI Imathia range that runs from a Xinomavro-Merlot red blend to Roditis and Malagousia whites.
Tip: The Petinos range is the entry point into the wider PGI Imathia bottlings if the PDO Xinomavro is sold out.
Forty-five minute guided route through the cooperative's vineyard, production hall, bottling line and ageing cellar in Episkopi, ending in a paid tasting of three Naoussa PDO wines with crackers and local cheese.
Tip: Groups of up to seventy are handled at once, so a solo visitor should still call ahead to be slotted into a scheduled tour.
Cellar-door route on the Naoussa-Kato Vermiou road through the vineyard garden, fermentation tanks and ageing vault, ending in an instructed tasting inside a hall built around the family's antique wine tools.
Tip: The garden stop before the cellar tour comes with tsipouro and olives, a welcome most first-time visitors do not expect.
Family cellar four kilometres outside Naoussa town in Nea Strantza, open to any visitor who wants to taste through the estate's Xinomavro range with the Fountis family, who have farmed here since 1992.
Tip: The estate is a Wine Roads of Northern Greece member, which in practice means it is set up for casual drop-ins rather than appointment-only visits.
Hillside cellar at 540 metres in Rodochori village, about twelve kilometres from Naoussa town, that the estate lists on its own site as a visitable winery for tasting its indigenous-variety range.
Tip: Rodochori sits well above the town on the mountain road, so budget extra driving time getting up from central Naoussa.
The cooperative's entry PDO Naoussa bottling, one hundred percent Xinomavro from member growers across the appellation. Listed on VAENI's own range page as a dry red under fifteen euros.
Tip: The cheapest genuine PDO Naoussa bottle from a producer that also runs a visitor programme at the Episkopi cellar.
Xinomavro from the estate's younger Trilofos plantings, made for early drinking rather than cellaring. The producer's own range page lists it as the entry point into the ten-label lineup.
Tip: Open this one within two or three years of release rather than holding it, unlike the estate's site-specific bottlings.
The house's standard Naoussa PDO bottling, on the market since Boutari began estate-labelled Xinomavro. The widest-distributed way to taste the appellation without visiting a cellar door.
Tip: The winery itself takes no visitors, so this bottle at a Naoussa restaurant or shop is the practical way to taste the house style.
Argatia's estate PDO Naoussa red from Rodochori, listed on the producer's own wine range page as the appellation bottling above its Charoula PGI pair.
Tip: Taste it next to the cheaper Charoula Erythros to see the price gap between PGI and PDO from the same cellar.
The estate's PGI Imathia red, a lighter and earlier-drinking Xinomavro than the PDO Naoussa bottling, and the cheapest wine on Argatia's own range page.
Tip: The everyday red from a cellar better known for its PDO Naoussa, good for a weeknight rather than a cellar occasion.
The Mantemi cellar's single PDO Naoussa bottling, one hundred percent Xinomavro, listed on the producer's own wines page as the estate's flagship red.
Tip: A small producer with one PDO wine on the list, so this is the whole Naoussa range from this cellar in one bottle.
A white PGI Imathia bottling from the Gastra estate, listed on the producer's own wines page as the entry point below the two PDO Naoussa reds.
Tip: The one white on a mostly-red list, worth trying before committing to the estate's PDO reds.
The Nea Strantza estate's PDO Naoussa red, named on the Greek wine producers association's own winery page, which lists Domaine Foundi among current PDO members.
Tip: A small-production estate wine, so availability outside Greece can be patchy compared to the larger Naoussa houses.
The organically farmed Paliokalias estate's standard PDO Naoussa red, named on the Greek wine producers association's winery page and priced under twenty euros.
Tip: Certified organic and still under twenty euros, an unusual combination for a PDO Naoussa bottling at this price.
The Dalamari estate's PDO Naoussa Xinomavro, a straightforward varietal red from one of the appellation's smaller family cellars, priced under twenty euros.
Tip: One of the least expensive true PDO Naoussa bottlings from a cellar that still pours it at the estate itself.