A Rethymno wine tour pours Cretan wines in the old town of Rethymno or at family wineries nearby. It is one of the Greece tours on Greece VIP.
This post covers what a tasting includes, the wineries, the grapes and the food. It also covers private tours, olive oil and raki, a winery story and the harvest. Events, weather, pickups and common questions come last.
Each section ends with a Rethymno wine tour or a nearby trip that can be booked online.
What does a Rethymno wine tour include?
A Rethymno wine tour includes a tasting of five Cretan wines with a sommelier. Local cheeses and olive oil come paired with them. Longer versions add a winery, an olive mill and lunch in a village.
The top-rated tasting takes place in a 19th-century building in the old town. It holds 4.9 out of 5 from 368 reviews, and groups stay at eight guests or fewer.
Dakos, olives, extra virgin olive oil, cheeses and cherry tomatoes come with the wines. Water is included, but a full meal and hotel transfer are not.
A private Rethymno wine tour adds a winery visit and an olive mill with Greek coffee. Guests taste up to five wines, then lunch in Nipos or Vryses.
- Score: 94% of English-speaking guests gave the old town tasting full marks.
- Private tour: 5.0 from 56 reviews.
- Safari option: A 4×4 day adds wine, olive oil and handmade cheese.
A Rethymno wine tour can therefore fill one evening or a whole day.
Which wineries does a Rethymno wine tour visit?
A Rethymno wine tour visits family wineries on both sides of the town. One stands at Roumeli, on the north coast highway east of Rethymno. Another lies at Alikampos in Apokoronas, to the west.
The Roumeli winery has made wine since 1997. It sits 24.7 km from Rethymno by road, among its own vineyards.
Its visit covers the vineyard, the production area and the cellar. A tasting of six or eight wines follows under a pergola, with Cretan rusks and a dip.
Plates of Cretan cheeses or cold cuts can join the tasting. The winery also hosts small private and business events.
The Alikampos winery lies 47.1 km from Rethymno. The private tour stops there for a tour and tasting. The winery books visits by appointment until the end of October.
- Access: The Roumeli winery lists access for reduced mobility and bus parking.
- Families: It offers activities for children and allows pets.
- Views: One reviewer praised the views of the mountains.
A Rethymno wine tour on a busy day meant a long wait for one reviewer without a booking.
Which grapes does a Rethymno wine tour pour?
A Rethymno wine tour pours Vidiano above all, a white grape grown mainly in Rethymno. Thrapsathiri, Vilana, Kotsifali and Liatiko fill out the Cretan list.
Vidiano is a rising star among Cretan wines. The grape is hard to grow, so farmers plant it on a small scale.
It thrives in dry, chalky, well-drained soils of modest fertility. Its thick-skinned berries ripen early.
Vidiano is close kin to Thrapsathiri and Vilana. Thrapsathiri was long treated as a clone of Athiri. DNA work links it to Vidiano instead.
Vilana gives delicate wines that rarely leave Greece. Growers once blended it with Thrapsathiri. At Roumeli, Liatiko goes into a red blend with Cabernet Sauvignon.
- Kotsifali: The Roumeli winery makes a rosé and a light red from it.
- PGI Rethymno: Its Vidiano carries the Rethymno protected geographical indication.
- Other grapes: Sauvignon Blanc, Assyrtiko and Cabernet Sauvignon grow there too.
Guests who want to compare regions can look at the wine tours in Crete.
What food comes with a Rethymno wine tour?
A Rethymno wine tour pairs its glasses with dakos, olives, cheeses and extra virgin olive oil. Day tours end with a full lunch in a village taverna.
The old town tasting serves dakos bread, olives, olive oil, cheeses and cherry tomatoes with its five wines. A share of reviewers found the portions modest.
The host asks guests to report food allergies and dietary needs before the day.
The private tour ends with lunch in Nipos or Vryses, with a vegetarian option. The choice of village depends on the weather and the day.
The 4×4 day stops at a cheese factory for a tasting and a short class. Lunch follows in the mountain village of Axos.
- Rusks: Cretan rusks and a dip come with the winery tasting at Roumeli.
- Plates: Cheese or cold-cut platters there serve two to three or four to six people.
- Olive oil menu: A grove near Pigi serves four courses paired with its oils.
A Rethymno wine tour with lunch suits guests who want a full meal, not just snacks.
How do private and group Rethymno wine tours differ?
A Rethymno wine tour runs as a small group tasting in town or a private day by car. Private tours come with their own driver and escort.
The old town tasting runs in English. Its host scores 4.9 and its value 4.7 in reviews.
The private tour picks up free of charge in Rethymno town or within 12 km of it. Farther pickups cost extra.
The private tour runs in Greek, French and English. The 4×4 day is semi-private, runs in German and English, and keeps groups small.
- Booking: The old town tasting is flagged as selling out fast.
- Private scores: Escort 5.0, transport 4.9 and value 4.9.
- Pace: One private-tour reviewer felt no rush at any stop.
A Rethymno wine tour in private form suits guests who want a winery and lunch in one trip.
Can a Rethymno wine tour add olive oil and raki?
A Rethymno wine tour can add an olive mill, an olive grove tasting or a glass of raki. The private tour opens at a mill and ends with limoncello or raki.
At the mill, experts explain each step of olive oil production. A tasting of virgin olive oil and a Greek coffee follow.
An olive grove tasting near Pigi pours four olive oils in the shade. Its grove holds olive trees 2,000 years old.
That grove tasting adds a four-course menu paired with the oils, plus local spirits. It holds 4.9 from 69 reviews.
Raki in Crete is tsikoudia, a brandy made from grape pomace. Its pomace ferments for about six weeks in a sealed barrel first.
Distilling runs for two to three weeks in late October and early November. Restaurants serve it chilled after meals, free of charge, with fruit or sweets.
- Arkadi day: A separate day trip includes a free olive oil tasting at a mill.
- Cheese: The 4×4 day adds handmade cheese to the wine and oil.
- Grove group: The Pigi tasting caps groups at eight guests.
Guests who want more Cretan dishes can add one of the Rethymno food tours.
What is the story of the Roumeli winery on a Rethymno wine tour?
A Rethymno wine tour to Roumeli visits a family winery founded in 1997 by a chemist and oenologist. A second generation has run it since 2014.
The founder had worked in winemaking since 1979. In its first decade, the winery bottled Vidiano for the first time.
A move to new premises brought modern equipment, solar panels and new vineyards. The solar panels cover the power needs of production.
The next generation grew up in the winery and studied chemistry at the University of Crete. Postgraduate courses in oenology followed in Piacenza, Italy, and in Athens.
Under the second generation, tasting programmes began and exports to Germany followed. Canada, Holland, France and Austria came next.
- Light red: A recent wine made from Kotsifali.
- Trilogy: Assyrtiko, Vidiano and Liatiko from selected vineyards.
- Team: Oenologists and certified sommeliers run the tastings.
A Rethymno wine tour there tastes a winery that was among the first to promote Vidiano.
When is harvest season on a Rethymno wine tour?
A Rethymno wine tour meets the harvest from late summer into autumn. Vidiano ripens early, Thrapsathiri late, and distilling of raki follows the pressing.
A new station at Vrysses, the seat of Apokoronas, began recording this July. July highs there averaged 32.9 °C, and August highs 32.3 °C.
The heat peaked at 38.9 °C on 26 August. August brought no rain at all, and July only 0.4 mm.
September cooled to a 28.3 °C average high but still reached 36.0 °C on 13 September. Rain returned with 89.2 mm that month.
October brought 155.2 mm, 42.8 mm of it on 1 October. Highs averaged 23.1 °C, and the night of 7 October fell to 7.3 °C.
- Coolest summer night: 15.5 °C on 27 July at Vrysses.
- Late September: 9.8 °C on 25 September.
- Raki season: Late October into early November.
A Rethymno wine tour in September therefore catches warm days and the first rain.
Which wine events add to a Rethymno wine tour?
A Rethymno wine tour can pair with the wine festival in the Municipal Garden. A cellar tasting in the old town is another option. Tastings of Cretan wine have also taken place at the Fortezza.
The Municipal Garden lies near the town centre and the church of the Four Martyrs. It hosts sport, civic and cultural events, the wine festival among them.
The garden is a botanical one, with plants that are rare in Greece. It also has a playground, fountains and a café.
An old town restaurant runs tastings in a stone cellar 600 years old, with a well inside. It has staged wine events since 1997 for groups of two to 20.
Its shorter tasting pours three wines with cheese and rusks. The longer one pours six, from white and rosé to red and a dessert wine. A sommelier presents each wine before guests taste it.
- Folder: Guests receive notes on the history of Greek wine.
- Fortezza: The town tourism channel filmed a Cretan wine tasting in the fortress.
- Private events: The Roumeli winery hosts small gatherings.
Guests who also plan a trip west can compare the wine tours in Chania.
How does weather shape a Rethymno wine tour?
A Rethymno wine tour runs indoors in the old town. The winery and olive grove tastings sit outside. Spili, at 405 m in the hills south of Rethymno, shows how hot and wet the year runs.
Spili averaged a 31.5 °C high in July this year and peaked at 40.3 °C on 22 July. August highs averaged 31.1 °C and peaked at 38.4 °C on 26 August. June brought no rain at all, with highs averaging 28.7 °C.
Winter stays cool in the hills. January highs averaged 14.7 °C and February highs 16.0 °C.
Autumn rain came hard. October brought 362.6 mm, 106.6 mm of it on 1 October, and September brought 105.2 mm.
Spring gusts reached 86.9 km/h on 1 April and 85.3 km/h on 1 February. March logged 231.8 mm of rain.
- Pergola: The Roumeli tasting takes place outdoors under a pergola.
- Grove: The Pigi olive oil tasting asks guests to bring a jacket.
- Lunch: The private tour picks its lunch village by the weather.
A Rethymno wine tour in October therefore pairs best with the indoor cellar tastings in town.
Where does a Rethymno wine tour pick up?
A Rethymno wine tour picks up from hotels along the coast or meets guests on site. The old town tasting has no transfer, so guests walk to the wine cellar.
The 4×4 day lists seven pickup points. They run from Rethymno and Platanes to Adelianos Kampos, Panormos, Georgioupoli, Stavromenos and Paralia Kourna.
The 4×4 day starts at the winery, then heads inland to Melidoni and the hill villages. The private tour collects guests in Rethymno town and up to 12 km around it.
The Pigi olive grove tasting meets in front of a venue in the village. Free parking lies across the road at the football stadium, and guests follow the host to the grove.
- Old town: An Arkadi day trip collects guests at the Municipal Garden bus stop.
- Gaps: That trip skips Georgioupoli, Kavros, Petres, Gerani and Lavris.
- Self-drive: The Roumeli winery has its own car and coach parking.
Guests who want a full olive day can book one of the olive oil tours in Crete.
What do travelers ask about a Rethymno wine tour?
A Rethymno wine tour raises questions on age limits, access, diets and cancellation. Only adults can book the old town tasting. Free cancellation runs up to 24 hours ahead.
Can children join a Rethymno wine tour?
Not the old town tasting, which excludes guests under 18 and pregnant women. The Roumeli winery welcomes families with activities for children.
Is the tour accessible?
The Pigi olive grove tasting is wheelchair accessible. The private winery tour does not suit guests with reduced mobility.
Can guests with special diets join?
Yes. The old town host asks for allergies and diets in advance. The private tour lunch includes a vegetarian option.
How does cancellation work?
Platform listings allow free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead for a full refund.
Does the Arkadi day run in the rain?
Yes. That day trip runs rain or shine.
What do guests bring?
The Pigi grove tasting asks for comfortable shoes and a sun hat.
Which languages do hosts speak?
The old town tasting runs in English. The private tour adds Greek and French, and the 4×4 day runs in German and English.