Welcome to Athens Distributing Company of Tennessee

We are a company dedicated to building solid relationships with the Suppliers that we represent, as well as with the Customers that we serve.

Athens Distributing Company is a Wine and Spirit Wholesale Distributor with offices in Nashville , Chattanooga , and Memphis Tennessee . It was founded in 1946 by T. Howard White Sr. and John L. Donnelly Sr. The two men were brothers-in-law who had married sisters during the 1920's. It began as a family business and has remained so for the past sixty years. The managing partners of each location are direct descendents of Howard White and “Chink” Donnelly.

The business started in 1946 in Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville is known as the “Athens of the South” because a replica of the Greek Parthenon is located here, and that is where the company derived its name. In 1961 an office was opened in Chattanooga, Tennessee and the Memphis operation was opened in 1967.