Naxos wine and spirits
The island's own liqueur that you cannot buy anywhere else, the firewater the villages run on, and why the best wine here never makes it onto a label.
Last reviewed July 2026
The short version
- The island's own
- Kitron, a citron liqueur made only on Naxos, and one of just three Greek spirits with a PDO.
- Not limoncello
- It is distilled from the tree's leaves, not the fruit, so it is herbal, not just sweet.
- Three colours
- Green, clear and yellow are three different drinks, not three shades.
- Which to drink
- The clear one. It is what Naxiots choose. Green is the sweet tourist bottle.
- Where to taste it
- The Vallindras distillery in Halki, family-run since 1896, with free tastings.
- The wine
- Barely commercial. The good stuff is home-made and poured from the barrel.
Naxos is the most fertile island in the Cyclades and, in myth, the home of Dionysus, the god of wine himself. So it drinks well. But its signature is not wine, and it is not ouzo. It is Kitron, a citron liqueur made nowhere else on earth, and the story of what to drink here starts with it.
Kitron, and why it is not limoncello
Kitron is the island's own liqueur, made only on Naxos. It carries a Protected Designation of Origin, one of only three Greek spirits that do, which means the name is guarded and the real thing comes from here and nowhere else. Citron trees have grown on Naxos since the 17th century, and this is what the island learned to do with them.
Here is the thing almost nobody tells you. Kitron is distilled from the leaves of the citron tree, not the fruit. The leaves are packed with aromatic essential oils, so the result is herbal, fragrant and complex, not the simple sweet-lemon hit of a limoncello. If you were expecting limoncello, you will be surprised, in the good way.
The three colours are three drinks
Kitron comes in green, clear and yellow, and this is not decoration. The colour tells you the strength and the sugar, and they taste genuinely different from one another.
| Colour | Strength | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Green | Around 30% | Sweetest and softest. The bottle most visitors buy. |
| Clear | Around 33% | Less sugar, drier. The one Naxiots actually drink. |
| Yellow | Around 36% | Strongest and driest, barely any sugar. For the serious. |
The insider move: drink the clear one, cold, as a digestif after dinner, and take a bottle of the clear home rather than the sweet green from the airport shelf. Locals will quietly approve.
Where to taste it: Halki
The place to meet Kitron properly is Halki, the green former capital in the Tragaea valley, and specifically the Vallindras distillery. Founded in 1896 and still run by the same family five generations on, it works today as a living museum: the original copper stills, machinery that runs on fire, and a wall of medals from world fairs a century old. The short tour is free, it ends in a tasting of all three colours, and the shop sells the real thing to take away. If you want to compare, there is also a newer distillery, Promponas, on the island.
Taste all three where they still make it.
We recommend meeting Kitron at the source, at the Vallindras family distillery in Halki. A free short tour through the original 1896 stillroom, a tasting of the green, the clear and the yellow so you can find your own, and bottles that are nothing like the airport version. Halki is one of the prettiest villages on the island, so make a slow morning of it.
- Family-run since 1896, five generations on
- Free tour of the original copper stillroom
- Taste the green, the clear and the yellow
- In Halki, the green heart of the Tragaea
Halki sits inland, so it pairs naturally with a day in the mountain villages. The bus goes, though a car gives you the freedom to add a winery and a long lunch to the same loop.
Souma, the village spirit
Long before Kitron, there was souma, the Cycladic firewater distilled from what is left of the grapes after the wine is pressed. It is the island's raki, clear and strong and poured with a steady hand at the end of a meal or the start of a long evening. In the villages it is often home-made, and being offered a glass of someone's own souma is a small act of welcome you do not refuse.
There is a neat thread here. The citron leaves that now make Kitron were first thrown in by winegrowers distilling their raki, to flavour it. That citron-scented raki, the kitrorako, is the grandfather of the polished liqueur you taste at Halki today. Souma is where the whole story starts.
The wine hides in the villages
For an island that claims Dionysus, Naxos is oddly quiet about its wine, and the reason is telling. Unlike Santorini or Paros, it has barely any commercial wineries. What it has instead is a deep home-wine culture: countless families press their own from native grapes like Mandilaria and Monemvasia, mostly for themselves. So the best glass on Naxos is rarely on a label. It is the house wine in a mountain taverna, poured cold from the barrel, and often the finest thing on the table.
A handful of small family wineries have started opening their doors, if you want to taste with a winemaker: places like Terra Grazia at Sangri and Saint Anna at Kato Potamia offer tours and tastings. But the most Naxian way to drink the island's wine is still the simplest: order the krasi hyma, the loose barrel wine, wherever you eat, and let the taverna pour.
Where to eat, and what to orderAsked often
What is Kitron of Naxos?
Kitron is a citron liqueur produced only on the island of Naxos, and one of just three Greek spirits with a Protected Designation of Origin. It is distilled from the leaves of the citron tree, an ancient citrus grown here since the 17th century, which gives it a herbal, aromatic character rather than a simple sweet-lemon one. It is traditionally drunk cold as a digestif after a meal.
Is Kitron the same as limoncello?
No. Limoncello is made from lemon peel and is essentially sweet and citrusy. Kitron is distilled from the leaves of the citron tree, so it is more herbal, aromatic and complex, and it comes in three strengths rather than one. They are different drinks that happen to share a colour.
Which colour of Kitron should I buy?
There are three: green is the sweetest and weakest at around 30 percent, clear sits in the middle at around 33 percent with less sugar, and yellow is the strongest and driest at around 36 percent. The clear one is what most Naxiots drink, so it is the knowing choice to take home, rather than the sweeter green bottle most visitors reach for.
Where can I taste Kitron in Naxos?
At the Vallindras distillery in the village of Halki, founded in 1896 and still run by the same family. It works as a museum with the original copper stills, offers a free short tour, and ends with a tasting of all three colours, with bottles to buy. There is also a newer distillery, Promponas, and several bars in Naxos Town pour Kitron and Kitron cocktails.
Does Naxos have wineries and local wine?
Naxos has a strong home-wine tradition but very few commercial wineries, unlike Santorini or Paros. Most wine is made privately by families from native grapes such as Mandilaria and Monemvasia. A few small family wineries, like Terra Grazia at Sangri and Saint Anna at Kato Potamia, offer tastings, but the most authentic glass is the barrel house wine in a village taverna.
What is souma?
Souma is the local Cycladic spirit, a clear, strong pomace distillate made from what remains of the grapes after pressing, similar to raki or tsipouro. On Naxos it is often home-made and offered at the end of a meal. It is also where Kitron began: winegrowers once flavoured their souma with citron leaves, creating the kitrorako that became today's liqueur.