Paros Wine Tasting: Five Natural Wines Among the Vines

The Paros wine tasting takes place at a small, young winery on the island, run by a French couple. Their aim, in their own words, is to show off the Greek terroir, and the Parian one in particular, which they say gives the wines minerality and freshness. You sit in the middle of the vineyard, with the sea in view.

Over the hour you taste five different wines. One of them is a natural sparkling wine, a pét-nat; the others take in red and white, all of them natural wines made with low intervention. A small snack comes with the glasses, from the winery garden or from elsewhere in the Cyclades. Your hosts take you through how the wine is made and what sets each one apart, and the guide speaks English.

The tone is relaxed. The listing calls the tasting informal and puts friendliness and conviviality among its highlights, so expect a conversation over the glasses rather than a formal class.

It suits anyone curious about what grows on the island beyond the beaches, and anyone who likes natural wine or wants to try it without ordering a whole bottle. At one hour, it fits around a beach morning or a late lunch. The listing also marks it as wheelchair accessible.

It is less of a fit if you want a proper meal: the food here is a small snack. For food and wine together, look at the cooking class below. And this is a small, new winery, so the hour is about its own wines rather than a tour of a large cellar.

If one hour feels short, the Greek cooking class pairs wine with a full meal you make yourself. The cooking class with meal and wine costs $152 per person and runs for 3.5 hours, rated 4.9 from 80 reviews.

It opens with an olive oil tasting, a platter of local cheeses, homemade olives and souma from a local distillery. Then you cook Greek appetizers, such as tzatziki, keftedakia and a Greek salad, and one main dish: stuffed seasonal vegetables, moussaka, pasticcio or fish of the day. Dessert is halva or baklava, and homemade local wine is poured with the meal.

Two notes from the listing: classes are by appointment only, so book ahead, and at least two people are needed. Tell your hosts about any allergies before the day.

Book the winery tasting. For a first Paros wine tasting, the hour among the vines at $44 per person is the clear pick: the lowest price of the three, the most reviews of the three and a 4.9 rating.

Want dinner out of it? Take the cooking class with wine. Want the sea in the picture? Add the sunset trip below.

After the vineyard, take a glass out to sea: the sunset trip with local wine leaves Pounta around 6 pm, depending on the month, and sails the Fira channel with wine or prosecco and soft drinks for about two hours, adults only, at $73 per person. Karen from the United States wrote: «What a perfect way to see a beautiful, Greek Sunset.» For a full day on the water, the most booked trip on this site is the Antiparos lunch cruise at $213 per person, or compare all ten in our list of trips.