The Peloponnese Larder

Our driver collects you in Athens in the morning, and Nemea is about 90 minutes away. At Aivalis the Agiorgitiko comes from three vineyards at different heights, poured side by side. From August to October, currants dry on wires at Golden Black, and you hang a few bunches yourself.

Lunch is among the vines, with Feneos beans or grass-pea fava. In the evening the welcome dinner is in Nafplio, the first of three hosted dinners. Keep a light layer in your hand luggage, because the cellar runs cooler than the vineyard.

A licensed guide reads Mycenae through the House of the Sphinxes tablets, the palace’s list of stored spices. The road then runs south to Koilada for a lunch of red shrimp. At Franchthi Cave, fish bones from about 10,000 years ago include tuna. Karonis has been distilling since 1869, and its sour-cherry liqueur is the pour. The evening is free. Wear shoes with grip for the citadel stone and the cave path. On request, we swap the day for the Tsakonian coast.

About an hour of road brings you up to the Mantineia plateau, where Moschofilero grows inside the line of the ancient city walls. At Troupis the Ekato rosé spends 100 days on its skins, which turns a white grape pink. On request, we add Tselepos at Rizes for the Amalia Brut and the Kolliniatiko. Lunch is on the plateau. The night is at Manna in Magouliana, a 1920s sanatorium at 1,200 m, and the evening is free. Pack a warm layer for the altitude.

Vytina is the dairy stop on Mainalo. Tsatsoulis makes sheep’s yoghurt and feta, and Liaropoulos makes egg pasta and soured-wheat soup. Mainalo fir honey has carried a protected name since 1994 and does not crystallise. Lunch is back at Iosif taverna in Magouliana. In the afternoon, the Open-Air Water Power Museum in Dimitsana shows a grape-spirit still at work. Coffee follows at the Gerousia kafeneio in Stemnitsa, open since 1870. The evening is free. Leave room in your luggage for honey, because it packs well.

Two legs of road, over three hours in all, carry the day from Arcadia past Tripoli and Sparta to Laconia. It is the longest drive so far. In between, Theodorakakos, organic since 1996, pours its Kydonitsa and Mavroudi. In September the estate closes, and a licensed guide takes you round Mystras instead; in other months Mystras is on request. Lunch is on the plain, and the evening at Kinsterna is free. If you add Mystras, wear shoes with grip for the steep stone lanes.

First light is the hour for the rock, with the lanes inside the walls still empty. Later, at Monemvasia Winery in Velies, Giorgos and Elli Tsimbidis pour six wines with Laconian products. The last of them is Malvasia, the wine English merchants knew as malmsey. After lunch the afternoon is free for a swim off the rocks. In the evening, the hosted dinner at Kinsterna comes with the estate’s own wines. Pack swim kit and sandals, because there is no sand here.

Gythio comes first. Manolakos has made sesame and honey bars here since 1902, and in summer octopus may be drying by the harbour, though not every day. In Areopoli, Milia’s bakery fries lalangia, ribbons of dough. Lunch is syglino, the Mani’s smoked pork, scrambled with eggs and tomato at Alepi or Palaiopolis. On request, we walk to the Tigani salt hollows from Mezapos, about an hour each way. Skip that walk in high summer, because there is no shade. Then the coast road runs north through Kardamyli to Kalamata. The evening is free.

A licensed guide takes you through the Palace of Nestor at Chora: the wine magazine with its sealed jars, a pantry of 2,853 cups, and tablets recording perfumed oil. Nestor Wines at Pyrgos is the afternoon tasting. Lunch is in Gialova, beside a lagoon that was once a fishpond. This is a long road day, over three hours in two legs. The evening is free. Tell us at breakfast if you want a table booked tonight.

Ancient Messene is the morning, with a licensed guide. Pausanias names Mount Eva above it, after the cry evoi. Fifteen minutes on, in Vasilada, Kostas Psaroulis grows Fileri from vines planted in 1948, along with ungrafted Assyrtiko on an old lake bed full of shells. Lunch is at Petalidi, with the fishermen who own the table. The farewell dinner is tonight. Wine packs easily for the flight home, but check the rules before you buy cheese or cured meat.

Market morning in Kalamata falls on a Wednesday or a Saturday, which is why departures run on Mondays and Thursdays. The stalls sell Alagonia potatoes, Taygetos oregano and honey. At Diakoumis you taste sfela, the brined Messinian cheese, and Oikonomakos, butchers since 1874, cut the cured pork. Callicounis has distilled since 1850 and makes the Ouzo of Kalamata. After an early lunch in the market quarter, the motorway takes you back to Athens. Tell us your flight time and we set the hour we leave.