Gavalas Winery

We visited one evening in early October, signing up online the same day. There are several tasting options to choose from, featuring different types of wines. The tasting room itself is small and set inside a traditional cave house, which adds to the charm. The wines were paired with finger foods, and we received a thorough explanation from the kind staff, including a short tour of the cellar. This is a small, family-run winery, and I highly recommend visiting if you’re interested in learning about grape cultivation and wine production in Santorini.

A wonderful place for both wine novices and experts alike. We had the chance to discover unique wines available only on the island, including boutique selections rarely found elsewhere due to their limited production. The winery is rich in history and tradition, and every glass seemed to carry that heritage. The staff were incredibly knowledgeable, polite, and welcoming, with excellent English, Italian, and Greek. Truly a memorable experience — absolutely worth it!

We visited this charming winery for an introductory wine tasting experience and really enjoyed the Aidani and Visanto — both were delicious and beautifully made. However, we did notice that the bottles were priced a bit higher than what you can find in Fira. The short winery tour (under five minutes) ended quite suddenly, which left us a little confused. A great experience overall!

Tried both the Explore Santorini and Premium & Rare tastings. The wines were solid, well-crafted and a good showcase of local varieties. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the tour, which would have added more depth to the experience. The food was okay, but nothing special or particularly memorable. Seating was also a downside, the wooden benches were quite uncomfortable, especially for a longer stay. Overall, a nice spot to try some quality Santorini wines, but the overall experience felt a bit incomplete.

Gavalas we heard in advance of our Santorini trip is one of the oldest wineries in the town and is one of the must try wines. So we knew we had to go! We booked the Explore Santorini tasting experience a couple of months in advance of our trip. I recommend booking plenty in advance if you can as the winery is very small. We were greeted by one of their employees and were seated at one of the outdoor tables a few minutes later. They provide some light eats as well to accompany the wines. They then have a guide to provide a history of the winery and a tasting guide to each of the wines. It was very educational and all wines were really good! We bought 3 bottles of wine to take home with us to enjoy later to remember our trip. There were a few items that I thought were strange and would consider some negatives: -They don’t accept American Express in their location to purchase wines. It was strange because you could pay for the tour in advance with Amex, so that had me a little puzzled. -We asked for water between wine selections and then were charged a Euro or two for the water. It’s not so much about the charge, but it’s more so that wineries typically provide water during tastings (and it was done at another Santorini winery during this trip). And we purchased around 120 Euros in wine, so the water charge was nominal for the winery. Would we come back? Absolutely. And we love the wine and look forward to purchasing Gavalas wine when we get back home as well!

It was a great wine tasting with friendly explanations about the wines and the grapes. Some of the wines were really good. We got a tour at the winery, which is really small but it still nice. The place is quiet and romantic not many people get there. If you are looking for something more romantic I suggest coming in from the back gate of the winery, you’ll have to walk through beautiful and small traditional streets of Megalochori (in the images below).

One of the oldest wineries on the island. We did a white wine tasting. All the wines were very tasty. Afterward, we were given a short tour.

Excellent experience at this boutique family owned winery. Delicious wine and great atmosphere. We were even able to meet the owner, Mr. George, while there. Recommend making a reservation if possible, especially if you’d like an inside table. We did the premium and rare wine tasting and really enjoyed it. We thought the prices were very reasonable.