The Bar That Doesn't Buy Its Own Wine

Drinking Culture & Craft The Bar That Doesn't Buy Its Own Wine

And why Athens' best bar might be the one thing every "best bar" list gets wrong

There's a line George Calombaris has repeated to friends for years, long before anyone outside Greece was paying attention: food is one thing, but beverage is another. He says it now about a bar that just proved his point on the biggest stage there is.

"The Clumsies has been named in the top 10 bars in the world for many years. And the boys from The Clumsies have opened up Line, which is an incredible cocktail bar that represents paddock to glass. I can't wait for you to meet these boys. The number one bar in Europe right now."

Not the bar you're picturing

Ask most people what makes a "world's best bar" and they'll describe some version of the same thing: a vault of rare spirits, a bartender flown in from London, a menu that reads like a wine auction catalogue. Line, tucked inside a former art gallery in the Kato Petralona neighbourhood of Athens, has almost none of that. What it has instead is a room where, days before your drink is poured, it was still growing on a farm.

Vasilis Kyritsis and Nikos Bakoulis spent the better part of a decade building The Clumsies into one of the most awarded bars on the planet before opening Line with Dimitris Dafopoulos. When the inaugural Europe's 50 Best Bars list landed at the end of June 2026, Line was sitting at number one.

Their whole approach runs against how most bars work. Instead of building the list around conventional bottled wine, they make their own fruit wines, beers and ferments on site from seasonal produce sourced from farms and small producers — so what ends up in your glass was still fruit in the same building days earlier.

A vermouth fit for a king

The house vermouth, Otto's, carries a piece of history most drinkers at the bar have no idea they're holding. It rebuilds a recipe once made by appointment to King Otto — the Bavarian prince installed as Greece's first modern king, and the man who made Athens the country's capital. It's the kind of detail Line doesn't print on the menu, because George will tell you himself if you ask.

Pulled up to the bar, not seated at a table

When George brings Journey guests through, he doesn't book a table off to the side. He sits everyone at the bar itself, so the pours happen right in front of you and the questions get answered as they come up — what's fermenting behind the counter, why Otto's tastes nothing like the vermouth you know, what "paddock to glass" actually means for a cocktail bar. By the third round, nobody at the bar is checking the time.

Retsina isn't the whole story

The night at Line runs straight into a Greek wine masterclass, because George has been saying for years that the country's wine deserves better than its reputation.

"I've known this forever, but Greek wine is so hot right now. Over 290 indigenous grape varieties to Greece that are extraordinary. But if you're a non-Greek the words are long, hard to pronounce, and you just get lost. What do I drink? So I'm going to fix all that by introducing you to some really cool cats, people that know Greek wine way better than I do."

Greece has close to 300 native grape varieties — more than most wine-producing countries manage. A leading Athens sommelier works through Assyrtiko off Santorini's volcanic soil and Xinomavro from the north, alongside grapes that never leave the country. It's built to make Greek wine feel generous rather than intimidating — enough context for anyone new to the category, and enough depth for drinkers who want to go past the beginner's course. George sits in for this one too, mostly to argue about which bottle is better, a debate he has never once let anyone else win.

Want the full night with George, Vasilis and Nikos? Line and the Greek wine masterclass are two of the Impossible Moments on George's Athens Journey.

→ Meet George Calombaris at qurocollective.com

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes Line different from other top-ranked cocktail bars?

Instead of building the list around conventional bottled wine and outside producers, Line makes its own fruit wines, beers and ferments on site from seasonal produce sourced from farms and small producers — a genuinely unusual model even among the world's best bars.

Is Line the same team as The Clumsies?

Yes. Vasilis Kyritsis and Nikos Bakoulis spent a decade building The Clumsies into one of the most awarded bars in the world before opening Line with Dimitris Dafopoulos in a former art gallery in Kato Petralona.

What is Otto's, and why is it on the menu?

Otto's is Line's house vermouth, rebuilt from a recipe once made by appointment to King Otto, the Bavarian prince who became Greece's first modern king.

Do I need to know about wine to enjoy the Greek wine masterclass?

No prior knowledge is needed, but it's built for drinkers who already know a little and want to go past retsina — into indigenous varieties like Assyrtiko and Xinomavro.