Greek Food and Wine of Chalkidiki: What to Eat and Drink

Chalkidiki eats well because it has three peninsulas, a long coastline, mountain pastures and, on Athos, a monastic kitchen with its own traditions. The difficulty for a visitor is telling the genuinely protected products from the merely well marketed.

This guide separates the two, from olives and honey to wine and tsipouro. For the festival side of the story, see our article on festivals and traditions in Chalkidiki.

Why Chalkidiki eats so well

Many influences shaped the local table: ancient traditions, Mediterranean flavours, Ottoman rule, Asia Minor refugees and Mount Athos monastic cooking. Athonite cuisine (Agioritiki) is built on olive oil, legumes, greens, fish, seafood and herbs.

Look out for local pies (pites) made with traditional cheeses or mountain greens, with sweet versions drizzled with honey, large green and black dried olives in salads, and spoon sweets and jams from women's associations. Holomontas mountain tea and hard-wheat breads and pastries are local too.

Green olives and olive oil

The green olive PDO

"Πράσινες Ελιές Χαλκιδικής" (Chalkidiki green olives) is a registered Protected Designation of Origin. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 426/2012 of 22 May 2012 entered the name.

According to the regulation:

• the olives must come only from the 'Hondrolia Chalkidikis' and 'Chalkidiki' varieties;
• they may be whole, pitted, pitted and stuffed, or crushed, and may be flavoured with herbs and spices;
• they are preserved in brine;
• the area is the Prefecture of Chalkidiki, and the text states that Mount Athos is excluded.

Registration was delayed after Belgian and Canadian traders objected. A compromise lets traders keep using the variety name, but only Chalkidiki producers may sell certified product as "Green Olives of Chalkidiki".

Scale, and why it swings

In 2023 the region had about 20,000 growers and nearly six million table-olive trees on 33,000 hectares. A good year yields over 120,000 tonnes, and 2022/23 reached about 160,000 tonnes. Roughly nine-tenths is exported. Harvest of the green table olives starts in September.

Output swings sharply. In June 2021, after a failed pollination, growers expected under 30,000 tonnes, compared with over 110,000 in 2020. Estimates of Chalkidiki's share of Greece's table olives range from a third to just over half, so roughly half, by industry estimates is a fair way to put it. The Union of Agricultural Cooperatives of Chalkidiki, founded in 1928, has the green olive as its main business: collecting, processing and trading it.

Olive oil

"Αγουρέλαιο Χαλκιδικής" (Agoureleo Chalkidikis) is a separate PDO for early-harvest oil made from olives picked while still green. The European Commission approved it in 2013 at the request of the cooperative union, and it must be produced and bottled in Chalkidiki. It is entered in the EU register by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 581/2013 of 17 June 2013.

Honey

Chalkidiki is often called the centre of beekeeping in Greece, with about 6,500 beekeepers, roughly a third of the country's beekeepers, and about 2,000 tonnes of honey a year. The main areas are Nikiti, Kassandra and Arnaia, pine honey is the one to look for, and there are honey cooperatives in Nikiti and Arnea.

You may read that over 30 percent of Greece's honey comes from Chalkidiki. The one-third figure is a count of beekeepers, not of honey produced. The bigger honey claim does not hold up.

Seafood and mussels

Nea Skioni, Nea Moudania, Porto Koufo and Ammouliani are places where local fishermen sell the daily catch. Sun-dried grilled octopus is a local favourite. Olympiada mussels (northern Chalkidiki coast) have been prized since pre-Ottoman times and are best steamed or deep-fried, often with ouzo and tsipouro.

A correction to a common claim: Greece's main mussel farming is in the Thermaic Gulf near Thessaloniki, not off Sithonia. About 20,000 tonnes are farmed there a year, nearly all exported, and the 2024 catch fell by 90 percent after July heatwaves pushed the water above 30 C. In Chalkidiki itself, Olympiada is the name to know for mussels.

Cheese, pies and mountain products

Feta is an EU PDO, and the regulation covers mainland Greece and Lesbos, which takes in Chalkidiki. Goat cheese is made in the Holomontas mountains, with mountain dairies at Taxiarchis and Holomontas.

Small local dairies make much of the cheese you will eat, so look for local labels when you shop.

Wine: Sithonia, Meliton and Athos

The appellations

Wine routes in Chalkidiki cover Kallikrateia, Sithonia, Mount Athos and inland areas. The designations listed are PGI Chalkidiki (also spelled "Halkidiki"), PDO Slopes of Meliton, PGI Sithonia and PGI Mount Athos.

• PDO Slopes of Meliton (Πλαγιές Μελίτωνα) was established in 1982 on the western slopes of Mount Meliton near Neos Marmaras. It was the first Greek PDO wine to allow foreign varieties. The white is Athiri 50 percent, Assyrtiko 35 percent and Roditis 15 percent. The red is Limnio with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.
• PGI Sithonia was established in 1996 and covers the whole Sithonia peninsula. The white must be at least 60 percent Malagousia and the red at least 60 percent Syrah.
• PGI Mount Athos covers white, rosé and red, with varieties including Assyrtiko, Athiri, Roditis, Xinomavro, Limnio and others. Winemaking has long been part of the monks' life.

Both Meliton and Sithonia wines come from the same boundaries and the same winery.

Porto Carras

Domaine Porto Carras gives its own figures: winery established in 1967, 110 hectares on the slopes of Meliton at 200 to 300 m, certified organic since 1996, and credited with helping revive Malagouzia and Limnio. It offers year-round tastings at the Melissanthi tasting room and guided vineyard tours, which are booked through the domaine. Hours and prices change, so check them with the estate when you book.

From Sarti, Neos Marmaras (the nearest village to Porto Carras) is about 41 km by road; check a live map for the time. See our Neos Marmaras guide for the town.

Tsantali, and why we do not recommend a visit

Tsantali's main winery is at Agios Pavlos. The family has made wine and distilled tsipouro and ouzo since 1890. The Thessaloniki Court of First Instance declared Evangelos Tsantalis S.A. bankrupt (the decision was reported as dated 1 December 2025 and entered in the commercial register in January 2026) and ordered the sale of its assets or operating units. Its liabilities were put above EUR 66 million, and the future of the Agios Pavlos winery and the Athos vineyards is open while the sale goes through. For now we do not recommend a winery visit, and tastings advertised on older tourism pages may no longer run.

Athos wines

Women are barred from the monastic community under Greek law and tradition, and entry needs a permit, so Athos vineyards are not a normal winery stop. Athos wines are bought in shops. Metochi Kromitsa, an estate of the Holy Monastery of St. Panteleimon, runs a modern winery, and its 2025 rosé is sold as PGI Mount Athos.

Tsipouro and meze

Tsipouro is a strong, typically unaged spirit from grape pomace, 40 to 45 percent alcohol, mainly associated with Thessaly, Epirus and Macedonia. It can be pure or anise-flavoured, and is served cold in small glasses with meze such as nuts, cheese, olives, seafood and halva. Tradition credits Orthodox monks on Mount Athos in the 14th century with its invention. Anise and fennel turn cloudy with water. Several EU geographical indications exist, including "Tsipouro of Macedonia". Village tavernas often serve their own or a local tsipouro.

Eating it near Sarti, and buying to take home

For where to eat near Sarti, ask us at reception and we will point you to tavernas that suit what you want to try. Distances from Sarti by road, in free-flowing traffic: Nikiti about 43 km (42 minutes), Polygyros about 77 km (78 minutes), and Agios Pavlos about 105 km (104 minutes).

For buying, look for olives and oil from producers in Polygyros, Olynthos and Ormylia, and honey from cooperatives in Nikiti and Arnea. The harvest of green olives begins in September, so autumn is the time for fresh-harvest talk. For the season, see Sithonia in autumn.

If a day in the city appeals for its markets, see our Thessaloniki day trip from Sarti. Many of the foods above also turn up at village feasts, which we describe in the festivals guide linked earlier. The summer panigyria calendar for Sithonia lists village feasts, and our guide to Easter food covers lamb, tsoureki and magiritsa. For the winter table, see Greek Christmas food and sweets, which covers melomakarona and kourabiedes.

If you would like a base for a food trip, Sarti Thea Boutique Rooms is in Achlada, on the hill above Sarti harbour, with free parking on site for the drives out to the wineries.

Practical info

• Season: green olive harvest begins in September.
• Wine visits: Porto Carras, by booking through the estate.
• Athos wines: bought in shops, not visited.
• Protected names: Chalkidiki green olives and Agoureleo Chalkidikis oil are PDOs, as are Slopes of Meliton wine and feta; the full list is in the official EU register (eAmbrosia) (opens in a new tab).