The Best Wine Bar in Athens, Greece: The Drunky Goat 

Navarchou Nikodimou 5, Athens 105 58

While a night out in Athens was long defined by classic Greek beers like Fix, Mamos, and Alpha, or a carafe of the country’s unofficial “water,” tsipouro, the city’s drinking scene has quietly shifted. Inspired by wine bars in cities like Paris and Rome, Athens has embraced a more wine-focused way of going out, which feels only natural given the depth and quality of Greek wine.

If you head into the heart of Athens on a weekend evening, you’ll find plenty of corners dotted with wine bars, sitting neatly among traditional taverns, cocktail spots, and cafés. They seem to be popping up more and more, and living in Athens, I’ve been lucky to visit quite a few.

Gladly so, because I love a good wine bar. It hits every note for me: a calmer atmosphere that makes the bars of my early twenties feel like a Spanish bullfight, soft jazz or bossa nova playing in the background, a thoughtfully curated wine list, and my favourite kind of meal — plates of cold meats and cheeses, finished with olives, bread, and plenty of chutneys. It feels grown-up enough to mark my thirties, but still relaxed and social in a way that makes you want to linger.

Recently, Maria and I were walking around Syntagma when we came across one of the newer additions to Athens’ wine scene, the Drunky Goat. The playful goat-led branding drew us in, but it was the focus on exclusively Greek wines, paired with an intimate setting and small plates, that convinced us to stay.

What is the Drunky Goat?

Situated in what is, to me, one of the best corners for food in central Athens, between Navarchou Nikodimou and Skoufou, the Drunky Goat is a wine bar in the truest sense.

It’s not somewhere you come for a long menu or a formal dinner. The focus here is very clearly on the wine, with food playing a supporting role.

That approach immediately appealed to me. Since moving to Greece five years ago, I’ve completely fallen in love with Greek wine. It’s still wildly underrated, especially outside the country, yet the range and quality are incredible.

There are so many different grape varieties, styles, and regions, and places like this make it easy to explore them without feeling like you need a lesson before ordering.

The Drunky Goat is the kind of place where you sit for a while, try something new, and actually pay attention to what you’re drinking. It’s relaxed, unpretentious, and designed for relaxing and enjoying the moment rather than rushing through a glass and moving on to the next stop.

You don’t need to know the terminology or have any background in wine. You just need to know what you enjoy.

Why Visit The Drunky Goat?

So why should you visit the Drunky Goat over other wine bars in Athens? To begin with, the fact that they only serve Greek wines is impressive, and it’s the perfect opportunity to try different Greek wine varieties during your trip to Athens.

While we haven’t done it ourselves, they also offer a blind wine tasting experience. For between €25–45, you can do a flight of four to six wines and taste them blind, focusing on the different flavour notes before learning what you’re actually drinking.

It’s a great option if you’re interested in learning more about wine and becoming more familiar with Greek varieties, or for a wine tasting in Athens.

We were also impressed by their food options designed to pair with the wine. Alongside cheese and charcuterie and a few bruschettas, they offer what they call “experiences” — different sharing platters that, to me, represent parts of Greece’s culinary identity.

They work exactly as they should: simple, thoughtful, and there to support the wine.

What to Order

While I do recommend trying the blind tasting if you’re up for it, we ended up ordering one of our favourite Greek white wines, Kydonitsa.

It’s a variety that produces wines with a pale lemon-green colour and expressive aromatics, often leaning toward ripe quince and fresh orchard fruit.

The glass we had was cold, crisp, and lightly floral, with a bright, fruity edge that made it incredibly easy to drink.

As for the food, we ordered the Drunky Platter after spotting it on a few other tables and being impressed by the presentation. It’s a bit of everything and an easy crowd-pleaser, with olives, tyrokafteri (spicy feta dip), mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes, two types of cheese, chutney, and sourdough bread.

The star of the show, though, was the local ham, served in slices and hanging directly from the line above the platter.

I don’t think you could really go wrong with whatever you order here, and in the end, it comes down to personal preference.

The bruschettas all looked great, and next time I’d probably go for a dip platter after being so impressed by the tyrokafteri, one of my favourite Greek dips.

Where to Find the Drunky Goat in Athens

The Drunky Goat is located just a short walk from Syntagma Square, tucked between Navarchou Nikodimou and Skoufou.

It sits in one of those pockets of central Athens that feels lively without being overwhelming, surrounded by good food spots and easy to reach from just about anywhere in the city center.

If you’re looking for a wine bar near Syntagma that works just as well for a relaxed evening as it does for a spontaneous stop, this is an easy choice.

Getting here is simple. Syntagma metro station is only a few minutes away on foot, making it convenient whether you’re coming from another neighborhood or heading back after dinner.

It also works well if you’re staying nearby in Plaka, Kolonaki, or Koukaki and want somewhere low-key to end the night without committing to a full sit-down meal.

What I like most about the location is how naturally it fits into an evening out. You can wander over after sightseeing, stop in before dinner, or make it the main event and stay for a couple of glasses and shared plates.

It feels central without feeling hectic, which isn’t always easy to find in this part of Athens.