Xinomavro

Xinomavro is the great red grape of northern Greece and its name is a plain description: xino means sour and mavro means black. It is grown in Macedonia, chiefly at Naoussa on the slopes of Mount Vermio, and also at Amyndeon, Goumenissa and Rapsani. It ripens very late, into October, and it needs a continental climate with a real autumn.

The comparison to nebbiolo is made constantly and it is a fair one. The colour is pale and browns early, which sits oddly with tannin that is severe and acidity that is very high. The aroma runs to sour cherry, dried tomato, olive and dried herbs, with an unusual note of sun-dried tomato that is close to a signature. Young Naoussa is austere.

Given ten years the tannin resolves and the wine becomes savoury and complex, and good bottles run for twenty. Amyndeon is higher and cooler and gives a lighter wine and a well regarded sparkling rose. Growers have spent thirty years learning to make an earlier-drinking version, with shorter maceration and softer extraction, and those are now widely available.