Santorini and worldwide
International Assyrtiko Day, celebrated on or around July 25 each year, is a Wines of Greece initiative that highlights the dominant Santorini grape on producer cellar doors and at participating restaurants and wine bars internationally. Santorini producers offer themed Assyrtiko-only flights, and the event has expanded steadily since its launch with participating venues from London to New York and across the Greek mainland.
Tip: Producer cellar doors run Assyrtiko-only flights on the day; the Wines of Greece site lists participating international venues.
Thessaloniki
The Great Days of Greek Wine is the annual showcase wine trade and consumer fair held in Thessaloniki each March. Santorini producers including Santo Wines, Sigalas, Argyros, Boutari, Gaia and Hatzidakis exhibit and pour current-release Santorini PDO Assyrtiko, Nykteri styles and Vinsanto alongside producers from across the Greek mainland. The fair gathers a broad range of Santorini producers in a single indoor tasting session.
Tip: The trade day on the first morning offers calmer tasting; the public sessions in the afternoon and second day are busier.
Each August during the harvest, Santo Wines opens its hilltop cooperative facility above Pyrgos for a public harvest-experience day. Visitors observe arriving grape loads at the receiving bay, walk through the production cellar, and taste the cooperative's current Assyrtiko and Vinsanto releases. The event combines wine education with the cooperative's panoramic caldera-view terrace and is the most accessible way to see Santorini harvest at scale.
Tip: Book the harvest-day experience directly through Santo Wines' visit-us booking system in advance; spots fill rapidly during peak harvest weekends.
Caldera and Nea Kameni volcanic islet
Ifestia is the Santorini volcanic festival, staged with a large pyrotechnic display on Nea Kameni (the active volcanic islet at the centre of the caldera) and viewed from caldera-rim villages including Fira and Oia.
Tip: The view from Oia is heavily photographed but very crowded; Imerovigli and the Skaros rim provide an alternative vantage with caldera-side wine bars open through the evening.
Fira
The Megaron Gyzi Festival is an established arts and culture festival on Santorini, held each summer at the 17th-century Catholic mansion of the Gyzi family in Fira.
Tip: Some events sell out months in advance; the official festival site publishes the full programme in late spring each year.
Vlychada
The Santorini Arts Factory occupies a converted tomato-cannery building at Vlychada on the south coast and runs an annual summer arts programme of theatre, film and music with regular wine-pairing receptions.
Tip: Combine an evening event at the Arts Factory with a sunset visit to Hatzidakis or Anhydrous in the same coastal area for a south-Santorini wine evening.