Art Space: Wine and Art in an 1861 Cave

The cellar that became a gallery — and stayed a cellar

In 1861, the Argyros family of Exo Gonia dug a canavaA traditional Santorini winery — originally a cave or barrel-vaulted cellar cut into the volcanic rock, where wine was pressed and aged. Many of the island’s modern tasting rooms still sit inside one. into the soft pumice — wine cellar, tomato store, the working underground of an island farm. In 1999, Antonis Argyros (a cousin branch to Estate Argyros down the road, and a distinct winery entirely) reopened his grandfather’s tunnels as something the Cyclades had never seen: a working art gallery inside a working winery, with the family’s folk tools kept in place as a museum of how wine was actually made here for centuries.

Today around thirty Greek artists hang and stand among the barrels — canvases pooled in lamplight against raw rock, sculpture in wall niches where amphorae once sat. It sounds like a gimmick; it plays like a chapel. Most guests go quiet about two rooms in.

Small wine, long shadows

Art Space’s production is genuinely tiny, and traditional to the bone: a bright Assyrtiko, the Saint August label, and a cave-aged Vinsanto poured meters from the barrels that raised it — sweet wine tasting of the exact darkness you’re standing in. Expect around four to eight wines for roughly €10–20 by recent visitor accounts; there’s no official price list, no booking engine, and no marketing department, which tells you most of what you need to know about the priorities here.

Visits are appointment-only, arranged by phone or email — the one genuinely old-fashioned booking process left on the island. Season hours run from 11:00 “until sunset” (their phrase, and they mean it); November to March opens by reservation only.

How do you arrange a visit to Art Space?

Independent visitors: email or call ahead, give them a real arrival window, and treat the appointment as a promise — this is a family showing you their inheritance, not a ticketed attraction. Or let the appointment be our problem: Art Space is the opening stop of our Golden Hour sunset tour, where our standing arrangement walks small groups through the cave before the calderaThe flooded volcanic crater at Santorini’s center, rimmed by cliffs that hold Fira and Oia. Exactly two winery terraces genuinely face it — fewer than the brochures imply. finale — and on private days it pairs unforgettably with modern Artemis Karamolegos three minutes away: 1861 and 2004, candle and steel, one village.

What should I know before visiting Art Space?

Art Space is Santorini’s most atmospheric small winery: an 1861 canava carved into the soft pumice of Exo Gonia, reopened in 1999 by Antonis Argyros as a working art gallery, folk museum, and micro-winery in one, with around thirty Greek artists exhibited among the barrels. Production is tiny and traditional — a bright AssyrtikoSantorini’s flagship white grape — bone-dry and mineral, all lemon, flint, and sea-spray salinity, with acidity that lets the best bottles age for two decades. Pronounced ah-SEER-tee-ko., the Saint August label, and a cave-aged VinsantoThe island’s amber crown: sun-dried Assyrtiko, Athiri, and Aidani, barrel-aged for years into a sweet wine of apricot, caramel, and coffee held fresh by improbable acidity. poured meters from its barrels. Expect about four to eight wines for roughly €10–20 by recent visitor accounts; there is no official price list, so confirm when you arrange the visit. Season hours run from 11:00 “until sunset,” and November through March opens by reservation only. Visits are appointment-only, arranged by phone or email — no online booking exists. Give the family a real arrival window. Our Golden Hour sunset tour opens in this cave, and private days pair it with Artemis Karamolegos three minutes away.