Do we offer olive-oil and/or wine-tasting?
Yes & No!
Professional olive oil tasters sip the oil straight from little blue glasses that look like candle holders. However, it would help if you remembered that olive oil is an ingredient in the food, and tasting it straight is not as exciting (yummy).
So, if you ask us, we suggest you skip the olive oil tasting but not the olive oil! Here are some ways to “olive oil taste” as a Greek would:
☼ Find great Greek restaurants away from the usual tourist traps and in Athens. It is called olive oil tasting through food tasting.
☼ Take part in authentic food tours or cooking classes.
☼ There are numerous authentic olive oil outlets from local producers, but always away from Athens!
☼ There are also multiple olive presses to ask one of your tour agencies to help you plan a visit (formal or not)!
Tip: Look at the olive oil on the fish plate above. This is the natural color of olive oil or even greener! As for the taste, you need to start eating like a Greek to discover it!
Wine tasting? The answer is a Big YES!
Look for the Nemea area (Mythology: Nemea Lion & Hercules?). It’s Greece’s “Napa Valley!” It’s a beautiful area with many family-owned wineries. It is next to the Nemea archeological site and is easy to access from Athens. Most of your tours out of Athens will drive past Nemea!
Here are some ideas of tours that include or can include wine tasting:
☼ Cave of Lakes, Ancient Corinth & Canal, Odontotos Rack Railway Day Tour from Athens
☼ Mycenae Nafplio and Epidaurus Private Day Tour from Athens
Tip 1: Always try the house wine while dining out, even at the fanciest restaurants! Order a “quarter” (of a liter). If you like it, try more and … cold!
Tip 2: Try the rose! It’s the most famous wine among the Greeks. It’s very cold, just like the white.
☼ Do explore as many of our FAQs as possible, Not 4 Dummies. They contain a wealth of knowledge for first-time and experienced visitors to Greece.
