Lyra
Greek Wine in Chicago? Finally, Someone Gets It.
Fulton Market · Chicago · Greek · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed April 13, 2026
Wingman Metrics
First Impression
You walk into Lyra's moody, buzzy Fulton Market dining room and the wine list feels like it actually belongs here — not an afterthought bolted onto a pretty restaurant. The Greek focus is real and committed, not a token Assyrtiko dropped in next to a wall of California Cabs. This is one of the few spots in Chicago where you can actually explore Greek wine with intention.
Selection Deep Dive
The list runs 120-180 bottles and leans hard into Greece, which is exactly what it should do. Santorini is well represented with Domaine Sigalas and Hatzidakis both showing up for Assyrtiko — two of the island's benchmark producers — alongside Gaia's Thalassitis, which is a serious third option in the same grape. Northern Greece gets love too: Boutari Naoussa and Alpha Estate both bring Xinomavro to the table, the grape that deserves to be talked about the way people talk about Nebbiolo. Domaine Gerovassiliou's Malagousia rounds out the white side nicely. California fills out the gaps with crowd-pleasing anchors like Kosta Browne and Ridge, keeping the list accessible without being lazy.
By the Glass
With 12-18 pours running $12-$22, the by-the-glass program has real range for a cuisine-focused restaurant. The hope is that Greek bottles rotate through the glass program — an Assyrtiko by the glass at a Greek restaurant in Chicago is exactly what the city needs more of. The pricing ceiling at $22 is reasonable for the Fulton Market zip code.
Boutari Naoussa Xinomavro — $45–$65
Xinomavro is the Nebbiolo of Greece — high acid, savory, structured — and Boutari is the accessible entry point into the grape. At the lower end of Lyra's price range, you're getting a wine that would command serious attention in a blind tasting. Order this before the table defaults to something familiar.
Domaine Gerovassiliou Malagousia
Most people at this table are reaching for the Assyrtiko, and understandably so. But Malagousia is the white grape that Greek wine geeks actually get excited about — floral, aromatic, lower acid than Assyrtiko, and genuinely distinctive. Gerovassiliou basically rescued the variety from near-extinction. Skip past it and you're missing something.
Kosta Browne Pinot Noir
Kosta Browne is fine wine, no argument there, but you didn't come to a Greek restaurant in Fulton Market to drink a $90+ Sonoma Pinot that you could order at a hundred other places in Chicago. The markup on well-known California names rarely favors the diner, and the opportunity cost here is real — that money goes much further on the Greek side of this list.
Domaine Sigalas Assyrtiko + Whole Roasted Fish
Sigalas Assyrtiko is high-acid, mineral, and saline in a way that almost tastes like it was designed to sit next to fish pulled from the Aegean. The whole roasted fish at Lyra is the move anyway, and this pairing is about as culinarily honest as it gets — same soil, same sea, same table.
🎲 The Bottom Line
Lyra earns its Wine Spectator nod by doing something genuinely rare in Chicago: building a wine list that takes Greek producers seriously and prices them fairly. If you've been sleeping on Greek wine, this is the restaurant that will change that.
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