A Dion wine tasting pours local wine at a winery next to the ruins of ancient Dion, where the plain of Pieria meets the slopes of Mount Olympus. Browse more trips around the country on our Greece Tours homepage.
Inside you get the two tastings you can book, the Agia Kori route, wine and Dionysus in the ancient city, the winery and its grapes, pairing the glass with the park, cruise days, the months and common questions.
What is a Dion wine tasting?
Guests sip wine at a boutique winery in the foothills of Mount Olympus. A guide leads the trip, which also visits the ancient city of Dion. The glasses hold wines from local and international grape varieties.
The village of Dion stands below Mount Olympus, 17 km from Katerini in Pieria. Olympus is a massif near the Thermaic Gulf, and its summit Mytikas is the highest peak in Greece.
A Dion wine tasting pairs that setting with a winery in the Olympus foothills. One trip joins the ruins and the vineyard, so a single outing covers both.
Three sellers list a Dion wine tasting tour: GetYourGuide, booking.com and Shore Excursions Group. Each one starts in Thessaloniki, at the port or at the cruise ship pier. The sections below take each listing in turn. Our page on Dion tours covers the ruins in full.
Which Dion wine tasting tour starts from Thessaloniki?
The GetYourGuide tour called “From Thessaloniki: Ancient Dion Tour with Wine Tasting” leaves Thessaloniki Port for ancient Dion. It then moves on to a boutique winery near Mt. Olympus. The listing gives a length of 6 hours.
The short text on the listing calls it a small-group tour. After the ruins, guests relax in a scenic garden at the winery. They sample wine and eat local delicacies there.
The page files this Dion wine tasting under the location Dion, Pieria. Its tags read Private group, Skip the line, Free cancellation and New activity. English is the only guide language listed. The rating stands at 3.9 from 2 reviews.
GetYourGuide quotes the rate per group of up to 2 people. It sets a cut-off for bookings: guests must book at least 8 hours in advance.
Two other sellers list the same idea from the same city.
- Booking.com sells “Thessaloniki Cultural Escape: Ancient Dion & Wine Tasting”, which runs 5 hours 30 minutes. Its page lists port pickup and drop-off, wine tasting, light snacks, a licensed guide, minibus or minivan transport, and entry to the archaeological site and museum.
- Shore Excursions Group sells “Dion Ruins and Wine Tasting in the Mount Olympus Region by Minibus”, which also runs 5 hours 30 minutes. It starts at the cruise ship pier and lists round-trip transport from the port, a guide, entrance fees, and wine tastings with homemade local dishes.
The booking.com Dion wine tasting page lists the site stop as temples, baths, a theatre and ancient streets. The on-site museum follows. A booking takes 1 to 15 tickets.
The standard offer there is a shared small group with a fixed itinerary. A private offer promises a flexible itinerary, and guests pick it at booking. The page offers free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start. Changes are not possible on the day of the tour.
The Shore Excursions Group Dion wine tasting rates the size of its tour as Small. Its size guide describes small excursions as groups of 2 to 20 people. The page lists the tour type as Scenic, Cultural, Historical.
Booking.com advises guests to carry a passport copy or other valid ID for entry to the site and museum. Shore Excursions Group asks every guest to carry one during the tour.
What is Agia Kori on a Dion wine tasting?
Agia Kori is a small chapel with a holy spring. It stands close to the Agia Triada monastery on the northern side of Mount Olympus. The tour lists it before the winery stop, so the sightseeing comes first and the wine comes last.
The monastery of Agia Triada, or Holy Trinity, stands in a gorge. It lies about four kilometres from the village of Vrontou in Pieria. The chapel of Agia Kori is near it. The monastery church sits on the road to Agia Kori, and allovergreece.com calls the way there very easy.
To Vima magazine places the pools of Agia Kori on the Olympus slope above the village of Vrontou. Wikipedia lists Vrontou in the municipal unit of Dion, inside the municipality of Dion-Olympos. That is how a chapel on Olympus joins a Dion wine tasting.
The chapel has a holy spring. A small waterfall close by fills natural pools where swimming is possible. The GetYourGuide abstract for this Dion wine tasting names Agia Kori, the waterfalls and the natural landscape of Mount Olympus.
The monastery church sits on top of a steep rock. It is what remains of a larger monastery from the fourteenth century. Its walls carry two layers of paintings, one from the fourteenth century and one from the seventeenth.
A fire from burning candles damaged the church badly in the sixties. Today the view from the rock covers the peaks of Olympus and the plain of Pieria. Guests on the Agia Kori Dion wine tasting reach the monastery before they reach the winery.
What does the Agia Kori Dion wine tasting include?
The listing “Agia Kori & Wine Tasting on Mount Olympus” is a guided small-group tour of five hours. It joins Agia Kori, the waterfalls and the monastery to a vineyard tour and a tasting at the Kourtis Winery.
The group holds up to eight guests, and pickup is available. The listing offers four meeting spots. Among them are the White Tower in Thessaloniki, the One Salonica Outlet Mall and Eleftherias Square in Katerini. Guests arrive ten minutes before the set time.
This tour follows a fixed order. The listing names the Church of Agia Kori first, then the waterfalls and the monastery. It ends with a guided vineyard tour and the tasting, which together take 75 minutes.
A Dion wine tasting on this listing includes walking in a natural environment. The duration changes with traffic, weather conditions and the time spent at each place. The wine tasting itself is part of the price.
The price covers these items:
- Transfer in a comfortable, air-conditioned vehicle
- An escort or driver
- Water
- Public liability insurance
- All taxes and road charges
Lunch or dinner is not in the price, and neither are tips. Extra food or drinks the listing does not name are out too. So are purchases of wines or local products.
The inclusions name no wine list or menu for this Dion wine tasting. Kourtis Winery stands in the village of Raches. The Trekking Hellas map page says it makes red, white and rosé wines.
A travel.gr visit report describes tasting the winery’s wines in a visitor area with large windows. Cured meats, cheeses and a homemade pie came with them. The listing does not name this food among its inclusions.
Cancelling a Dion wine tasting booking is free until 24 hours in advance, and the refund is full. The listing asks guests to book at least 10 hours ahead.
How did wine shape daily life in ancient Dion?
Behind a Dion wine tasting stands the Macedonian symposium, a banquet of feasting, drinking and talk for the nobility. Dion adds the Villa of Dionysus, whose dining hall held a mosaic of the god of wine-making.
In the Macedonian realm, the symposium was a banquet for the nobility and the privileged class. It joined feasting, drinking, entertainment and sometimes philosophical discussion. The leading aristocrats, called hetairoi, were expected to attend these feasts with their king.
Symposia were Greek traditions since Homeric times, and a Dion wine tasting sits inside that long habit of shared drinking. Macedonian symposia carried more extravagance and a stronger pull toward violence than classical Greek ones. Young men were allowed to recline only after they had killed their first wild boar.
A krater was a mixing bowl. Greeks used it to blend undiluted wine with water, and the drink was then ladled out to fellow banqueters. A bronze krater from Derveni, near Thessaloniki, dates to the fourth century BC. Silver garlands of vine and ivy circle it, and its belly shows Dionysus and Ariadne with revelling satyrs.
A wine from the north won praise abroad, long before any Dion wine tasting. Ancient Macedonia produced two products that other Greeks prized. One was eels from the Strymonian Gulf, and the other was a special wine made in Chalcidice.
The Villa of Dionysus gives Dion its own dining-room story. Excavators read the atrium as the dining room of the house, and the Dionysus mosaic lay on its floor. The third of four more rooms they exposed held four clay storage vessels. For a Dion wine tasting, this house is the part of the ruins that speaks about wine.
A second dining room stood on the main road. The Praetorium was a hostel for officials, emissaries and ordinary travellers. It had five bedrooms and a luxurious dining room called the triclinium. Its tabernae gave up earthen storage vessels and lamps.
Myth also links a Dion wine tasting to Pieria through Dionysus. Pseudo-Apollodorus wrote that Orpheus invented the mysteries of Dionysus. He added that the Maenads tore Orpheus apart and that he lies buried in Pieria. Pausanias names Dion among the places where Orpheus lived.
What does the Dionysus mosaic tell a Dion wine tasting guest?
The mosaic shows the god arriving in triumph, with panthers, centaurs and Silenus around him. Of all the floors that survive at Dion, it is the largest, and it dates to the second century AD.
In the middle of the floor, Dionysus stands in a chariot. Beside him is Silenus, who helps the god more than he drives. Two panthers pull the carriage, and a pair of centaurs lead them by the reins.
The centaurs carry gifts. The bearded one holds a krater, the bowl in which Greeks mixed wine and water. The other carries a closed vessel on his shoulder, which archaeologists link to the sacred symbols of the Dionysus cult. A Dion wine tasting guest finds a krater here in the god’s procession.
The artist set tesserae of different sizes and dozens of colour shades, so the floor reads like a painting. A light ground makes the god stand out. The central panel measures 220 cm by 150 cm, and the whole floor covers about 100 square metres.
Six masks frame the panel, three on the east side and three on the west. The middle eastern mask shows Dionysus with long curls, beside a satyr with a snub nose. The mask of a barbarian next to the god is read as Lycurgus, a Thracian king. He chased the young god into the sea, where Thetis saved him.
Excavators uncovered the floor in the atrium in June nineteen eighty-seven, almost whole under its cover of soil. The same room gave up four seated philosophers in a sculpture and statuettes of a satyr and Heracles. These finds set a Dion wine tasting in a real house.
Water and decay wore the floor down under its roof for over 20 years. Conservators lifted it in sections from the autumn of two thousand fifteen. Parts weighing up to 500 kg went onto a trailer. The work ended in June two thousand seventeen. The floor now lies in the Archaeotheke, a hall with an upper gallery.
Dion takes its name from the sanctuary of Zeus, and Dios means “of Zeus”. Zeus was also the father of Dionysus. A Dion wine tasting therefore starts on ground named for the father of the wine god.
The god’s story reached Macedonia long before the villa or any Dion wine tasting. King Archelaus hosted the tragedians Agathon and Euripides in his new palace at Pella. Euripides wrote his tragedies Archelaus and The Bacchae while he lived in Macedon.
In The Bacchae, Dionysus punishes King Pentheus of Thebes for rejecting his cult. Dionysus is the god of wine-making and of theatre, so a Dion wine tasting touches both.
Which winery pours a Dion wine tasting beside the ancient city?
The Thessaloniki Port listing names no winery. It says only “a boutique winery near Mt. Olympus”, with wine tasting and local delicacies in a scenic garden. A Greek wine series names estates at Litochoro and Kontariotissa, both in the municipality of Dion-Olympos.
The shore-excursion listing for the Dion ruins and wine by minibus adds a vineyard garden. It says the wines come from local and international grape varieties, served with homemade regional delicacies. It names no winery either, so ask the seller which estate hosts this Dion wine tasting.
Mythiko Vouno is a Litochoro estate with 140 stremmata of vines on eastern slopes that look over the Aegean coast. The series says the winery was still preparing its visitor space. Tastings ran at Olympus Wines, Agiou Nikolaou 64, in central Litochoro, by appointment. Contact runs in Greek and English.
Konstantin-Evangelo farms 25 stremmata of vines around Kontariotissa, facing Olympus. Kontariotissa belongs to the municipal unit of Dion and lies 9 km south of Katerini. The vineyard holds organic and biodynamic certification through Demeter. At the time of the article, the winery was not open to visitors while works were pending.
Navitas stands at Palioporos in Litochoro. The same article called it not yet open and said it planned to receive visitors within two years. Navitas lists no tastings on its home page. Check each estate before you build a Dion wine tasting around it.
The other estates of the region have their own profiles in our Pieria wine tasting guide.
Which grapes grow in the vineyards around Dion?
Xinomavro, Assyrtiko, Malagousia, Agiorgitiko and Mavrotragano grow on the estates of Dion-Olympos named above. Grenache Rouge, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon sit beside them. Greek varieties lead the lists. Each estate makes white, rosé, red or orange wine from them.
Setting shapes a Dion wine tasting. The Master of Wine behind the travel.gr series writes that Pieria lies in an amphitheatre facing the Aegean. Hills with gentle slopes recall the hillsides of Tuscany. The sea adds a beneficial influence, and the series lists Litochoro among the areas of wine interest.
Navitas gives its own picture of the place behind a Dion wine tasting. Its home page puts Mount Olympus to the north. The Pieria mountains lie to the northwest and the Aegean Sea to the east. The series adds that its vineyard reaches 400 metres in three separate plots.
Xinomavro is a red grape whose name means “sour black” in Greek. Wikipedia calls it the main red grape of Naousa, in Imathia. A Dion wine tasting on these estates meets it in three labels. These are the red Terre de Zeus at Navitas, Konstantin-Evangelo’s Titanomachy and its rosé Raging Bacchae. Titanomachy ferments in amphorae and ages in oak barrels.
Assyrtiko is a white grape native to Santorini, says Wikipedia. Navitas makes its white Terre de Zeus from it. Mythiko Vouno blends Assyrtiko with Malagousia in its white. Its Thronos is pure Assyrtiko, aged six months on the lees. Konstantin-Evangelo makes an orange wine from Assyrtiko.
Malagousia is a white grape that Wikipedia calls highly aromatic. The series says it has given excellent results in Pieria, the region of every Dion wine tasting. Mavrotragano is a red grape native to the Cyclades and one of the oldest red varieties in Greece. Konstantin-Evangelo planted it more recently than its Xinomavro and Assyrtiko.
Agiorgitiko is a red grape from the Nemea region, says Wikipedia. It joins Xinomavro in the red Pantheon of Mythiko Vouno. Navitas makes the rosé Mountcloud from Grenache Rouge. Wikipedia lists grapes among the crops of Kontariotissa, beside tobacco, kiwi and olive oils. Neither tour listing names a grape.
How do you fit a Dion wine tasting around the archaeological park?
Walk the ruins first and the winery second, because every Dion wine tasting listing runs in that order. The park opens at 08:00 on each day from 1 April to 31 October, except Tuesday, which starts at 08:30.
The GetYourGuide listing sends the group from Thessaloniki Port to ancient Dion. Only then does it reach a boutique winery near Mount Olympus. The booking.com page begins at the Archaeological Site of Dion and moves to the winery afterwards. Each source puts the Dion wine tasting last.
The shoreexcursionsgroup.com page adds the museum between the two stops. It lists the drive to Dion, the ruins, the Archaeological Museum of Dion and then the winery. The booking.com page names temples, baths, a theatre and ancient streets for the walk. Its inclusions list covers entrance fees for the site and the museum.
The Hellenic Heritage site, run by the Ministry of Culture and ODAP, posts the park hours. From 1 April to 31 August the park opens daily from 08:00 to 20:00. The closing time then slips to 19:30 in the first half of September and 19:00 in the second.
October closes the park at 18:30 in its first half and at 18:00 in its second. Tuesday keeps one fixed schedule of 08:30 to 15:30 through the whole summer season. The page adds that last admission falls 20 minutes before closing time.
The museum keeps its own summer clock. From 1 April to 31 October it opens daily from 11:00 to 19:00. That opening time differs from the park’s. Check both times against the start of your Dion wine tasting.
From 1 November to 31 March the park and the museum share one winter schedule. Monday and Thursday to Sunday run from 08:30 to 15:30. Tuesday and Wednesday are closed.
A winter Dion wine tasting that includes the ruins needs one of the open days. The page lists six closed dates, among them 1 January, 25 March, Easter Sunday and 25 and 26 December.
Neither the booking.com page nor the shoreexcursionsgroup.com page splits the day between the ruins and the winery. Each gives one total of 5 hours 30 minutes for the Dion wine tasting. The booking.com page gives only one driving figure, and it covers the whole round trip, stops included.
The Hellenic Heritage page says the park demands a significant share of a visitor’s time. It adds that the site deserves multiple visits all year round. A Dion wine tasting tour gives the park one visit. For a day built on the ruins alone, read our Dion archaeological park day trip from Thessaloniki page.
Does a Dion wine tasting work for cruise passengers in Thessaloniki?
Yes, three listings start this trip at the port of Thessaloniki. GetYourGuide starts the tour at Thessaloniki Port. The booking.com page lists port pickup and drop-off. The shoreexcursionsgroup.com page gives a cruise ship pier departure with round-trip transport from the port.
The Port of Thessaloniki has one of the largest passenger terminals in the Aegean Sea basin, says Wikipedia. The same page calls Thessaloniki an increasingly popular cruise destination. It gives two reasons: places of great cultural interest nearby, and a port very close to the city centre.
The booking.com page says a representative waits outside the Passenger Cruise Terminal. That person stands only a couple of yards from the gangway and escorts the group to the coach. The shoreexcursionsgroup.com page names Cruise Ship Pier as the departure point. It also carries a Guaranteed Return to Ship banner.
The Central Macedonia tourism site places the archaeological site of Dion 90 kilometres from Thessaloniki. The booking.com page gives about 2 hours 30 minutes of driving, port to Pieria region and back. Stops are included in that figure.
GetYourGuide lists a duration of 6 hours for this Dion wine tasting. The booking.com and shoreexcursionsgroup.com pages each list 5 hours 30 minutes. Set the listed length against your own ship’s departure time before you book.
The booking.com page asks guests to carry a copy of a passport or other valid identification, digital or physical. A driver’s licence is one example it names. The check is for entry to the Archaeological Site and Museum of Dion.
Which months and events suit a Dion wine tasting?
August carries both seasons. Visit Olympus puts the grape harvest of the wines of Olympus in August and September. The Olympus Festival runs in July and August, and the Greek theatre of Dion is one of its venues.
Booking calendars show when a Dion wine tasting runs. The Agia Kori listing on GetYourGuide offers departures on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Its dates run through November, December, January and February. The Thessaloniki Port listing shows a start on every day of the week.
Trekking Hellas describes Kourtis Winery as a host of tastings, workshops and seasonal celebrations through the year. The Agia Kori listing names Kourtis as its winery. Oil from the same plain gets its own tasting on our Dion olive oil tasting page.
Visit Olympus, a regional tourism site, gives August and September as the harvest months for the wines of Olympus. It says the grapes are picked when they reach the desired colour, aroma and balance of sugar and acid. Hand picking cuts the ripe bunches, and machines work in large vineyards.
Naoussa is a Macedonian wine town at the foot of Mount Vermio. Travel.gr dates its harvest from late August to mid-October. Earlier-ripening varieties come first. The Xinomavro vineyards need more time and are picked last. The article covers Naoussa, not Pieria, so it marks the Macedonian range and not a Dion date.
The Olympus Festival is an annual festival of music and theatre. Wikipedia calls it the largest event of its kind in northern Greece. The organiser, OR.FE.O, is based in Katerini. July and August hold the festival, so a Dion wine tasting booked in those months shares the calendar with it.
The programme lists ballet, classical concerts, choirs, traditional Greek music and modern music. It also lists classical comedies and tragedies from Hellenistic times. Guides also lead visits at the Dion and Leivithra archaeological parks. The Hellenistic Greek theatre at Dion is a venue, as is the Center of Mosaic Art in Dion.
What do travellers ask about a Dion wine tasting?
Seven questions cover the drinking age, driving, children, group type, guide language, clothing and access. Each answer names the operator page or reference that states the rule. The two bookable tours differ on group type and language.
The Greek age for buying alcohol is 18, and Wikipedia lists the same figure for drinking in public. Shore Excursions Group asks for each guest’s date of birth at booking. It requires guests to be 18 or older to drink.
Wikipedia gives drivers in Greece a blood alcohol cap of 0.05 percent. A stricter cap of 0.02 percent covers new drivers, motorcyclists and professionals at the wheel. Traffic police run routine breath tests, especially on weekends and major holidays. Shore Excursions Group lists round-trip transportation from the port.
Can children join a Dion wine tasting?
The Agia Kori listing sorts guests into adults aged 13 to 99 and children aged 12 and under. Shore Excursions Group counts children from 0 to 5 at booking. It lists ages 6 to 12 as a child category. Booking.com lists infant seats, asks children to travel with an adult and bars guests under 18 from the tasting.
Is a Dion wine tasting a private or a group tour?
Booking.com says the standard booking is a shared small group tour. A private option exists and must be chosen during booking. The Thessaloniki Port listing on GetYourGuide carries a Private group label, while its summary calls the trip a small-group tour. The Agia Kori listing carries a Small group label.
Which languages does a Dion wine tasting guide speak?
The Agia Kori listing offers English and Greek, with English as the default. The Thessaloniki Port listing offers English. Booking.com lists an English-language guide.
What do you wear to the park and the winery?
Shore Excursions Group recommends light, breathable clothing and flat-soled, non-slip walking shoes. It adds a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen for warm weather. Booking.com names comfortable walking shoes and the same sun gear. It describes paved paths, uneven surfaces and gentle inclines.
Is a Dion wine tasting wheelchair accessible?
Shore Excursions Group and Booking.com both mark the tour as not wheelchair accessible. The first operator bars motorised scooters. Strollers, collapsible wheelchairs and walkers are allowed, but guests handle them alone. Guests with special needs tell the operator at booking.