The estates, domaines and châteaux worth the drive in Nemea, from first growths to grower gems.
The estates, domaines and châteaux worth the drive in Nemea, from classified growths to grower gems.
Family winery on the main road through Nemea town. The Athanasiou family has grown vines since 1855 and built this cellar in 2007 for Agiorgitiko, Assyrtiko and Moschofilero.
Tasting: The winery does not receive visitors; bottles are sold through the trade.
Third generation family cellar in Nemea town. First vinification in 2002, first bottling in 2004, and today 13 labels drawn from 18 hectares of owned vineyard.
Tasting: Monday to Friday 09:00 to 17:00 by appointment. Cellar tour, tasting and a shop on site.
Ilias Bizios farms 10 hectares of organically grown vines at 850 metres above the village of Asprokampos, the highest ground in the Nemea PDO zone.
Tasting: Visits by arrangement. Tasting, winery, vineyard and cellar tour, plus a shop on site.
Small Ancient Nemea cellar founded in 2006 in the family's rebuilt winery. Own rooted vines over 45 years old at 340 metres on red sandy clay loam.
Tasting: Visits by prior arrangement. Barrel tasting, winery, vineyard and cellar tour.
Founded by George Skouras, the winery moved from Gymno to Malandreni in the Argolida corner of the Nemea zone. Agiorgitiko and Moschofilero sit beside Bordeaux varieties.
Tasting: Monday to Friday 09:00 to 17:00, Saturday 10:30 to 18:00, closed Sundays and public holidays. Appointment required.
Gaia began in 1994 and runs two cellars, one at Koutsi in Nemea and one on Santorini. The 7 hectare Koutsi vineyard feeds the Gaia Estate Agiorgitiko.
Tasting: Visits by arrangement. Tank and barrel tastings, winery, vineyard and cellar tours, step free access.
Konstantinos Gofas took over the family cellar in 1998 and moved it in 2011 to Koutsi, inside the estate vineyard beside the Asopos river.
Tasting: Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 17:00, walk in or by appointment. Tasting, cellar tour, meals and a shop.
Set up in 2003 by a grower family who had made wine only for themselves. Four bottlings now: Nemea Halkia, a fresh Agiorgitiko in red and rose, plus a Roditis white.
Tasting: Visits by arrangement or on a set programme. Tasting, winery, vineyard and cellar tour.
The Harlaftis family's Nemea cellar sits at Achladias in the middle of its vineyard, built for red winemaking with an underground cava holding over 500 oak barrels.
Four generations of Agiorgitiko growing at the entrance to Nemea town. Reds mature in an underground cellar in oak barrels and amphorae before bottle ageing.
Tasting: By appointment. Tank and barrel tasting, winery, vineyard and cellar tour, meals, shop, step free access.
The Nemea arm of Domaine Tselepos, planted at Koutsi and given over entirely to Agiorgitiko for the Driopi bottlings.
Tasting: The winery does not receive visitors.
One of the busiest doors in Ancient Nemea for visitors. The Palivou Wine Train tasting room opened in 2023 on a terrace above the Ancient Nemea valley.
Tasting: October to March daily 09:00 to 17:00; April to September daily 10:00 to 18:00. Walk in or by appointment.
Boutique winery and vine nursery at Leontio, working 2,000 square metres of purpose built premises under Christos Raptis.
Tasting: Visits by arrangement. Tasting, winery and cellar tour, shop, step free access.
The Nemea cellar of the Arcadian house Spiropoulos, placed at the Ancient Nemea junction on the Corinth to Tripoli road and given over to Agiorgitiko.
Tasting: By appointment or on a set programme. Tank and barrel tasting, winery, vineyard and cellar tour, meals, shop.
A high volume cellar at Archaies Kleones, the first wine village on the road in from Corinth, with a visitor programme running seven days a week.
Tasting: Monday to Sunday 09:00 to 17:00. Bookings by phone or at [email protected]. Tasting, tours, meals and a shop.
Forty years of vintages at Archaies Kleones, selecting fruit from growers in the zone and ageing the reds in French oak in a climate controlled cava.
Tasting: Visits by arrangement.
Winery at Xerokampos on the Nemea plain, exporting about 40 per cent of production. The range runs from Nemea Lantides to Chrysambelo and the Cuvee Lantides.
Tasting: Monday to Friday 09:00 to 18:00, walk in or by appointment. Tank and barrel tasting, meals, rooms, shop, step free access.
Fifth generation growers whose vineyard plots at Agios Georgios appear in Greek state land records of 1828. The winery itself dates from 1913.
A working Nemea cellar on the Galatas road that vinifies Agiorgitiko for its own label and for larger Greek houses it has supplied for years.
Tasting: Monday to Sunday 10:00 to 17:00.
Oenologist Giorgos Vassiliou built an isobaric winery over five levels at Nemea, with DIO certified organic plots at Koutsi, Petri and Asprokampos.
Tasting: Monday to Friday 08:00 to 16:00 by appointment, closed Sundays and public holidays. Six guest suites on site.
Organic grower and winemaker at Xerokampos, at the foot of the Panagia hill on the way into Nemea, with the cellar set among its own Agiorgitiko vines.
Tasting: The winery receives visitors.
Yannis Nikolaou studied viticulture and oenology at Bordeaux and founded the estate in 1984 on the slopes of Mount Veseza, at the Douramani site near ancient Phlious.
Tasting: Monday to Saturday 09:00 to 15:00, walk in welcome. Tasting, tours, meals, shop, step free access.
Founded by Thanasis Papaioannou and now run by his son Giorgos, a chemist and oenologist. Sixty three hectares of owned vines spread across sites in the Nemea zone.
Tasting: By appointment. Tasting and a shop on site.
Third generation family winery at Archaies Kleones. Eight hectares of owned vines plus fruit from 15 selected growers around Kleones and Nemea.
Tasting: Monday to Saturday 09:00 to 19:00, closed Sundays and public holidays.
Semeli started in 1979 at the foot of Mount Penteli and built its Nemea winery at Koutsi in 2003, at 600 metres, with a gravity fed cellar and visitor rooms.
Tasting: Tours Monday to Friday except Tuesday at 10:00, 11:30, 13:00 and 14:30; Saturday and Sunday at 11:00, 13:00 and 15:00.
Set up in 2005 on eight hectares of organically farmed Agiorgitiko, with a processing unit completed in 2006 on the slopes of Koutsi above the Nemea valley.
Tasting: By appointment. Tasting, winery and vineyard tour, meals, shop, step free access.
Working with growers in the mountain villages of Psari, Asprokampos, Kefalari, Kastraki and Bozikas since 1993, where harvest runs two weeks behind the Nemea plain.
Tasting: The Asprokampos winery does not receive visitors.
Founded by the agronomist Ilias Zacharias, who has worked with Nemea fruit since 1974. Bottling under the family name began in 2002, with Agiorgitiko and the local Sklava.
Peak wine-travel season in Nemea is spring through autumn, with harvest the standout window.
classified-growth and grand-cru estates require booking days to weeks ahead; smaller family domaines often take walk-ins midweek.
most estates open 10:00 to 17:00 by appointment, often closed Sunday and Monday.
tipping is not expected at tastings; buying a bottle from the cellar door is the customary thank-you.
Ask the next local you meet what they would order. Nemea rewards trust.