Xynisteri

Xynisteri is the main white grape of Cyprus and, like Mavro, it grows on ungrafted vines, because the island escaped phylloxera entirely. It is grown across the Troodos foothills and up into the mountains, and the altitude is what saves it: on the hot lowland it ripens too fast and loses everything, and above 800 metres it keeps its acidity.

The wine is light and low in alcohol by modern standards, often between eleven and twelve and a half degrees, with citrus, green apple, a faintly herbal note and a dry, slightly saline finish. Picked early it is delicate and fresh, and picked late it goes flat quickly, so timing decides the quality more than in almost any other white.

Its other role is in Commandaria, the ancient sweet wine of the island, where it is sun dried alongside Mavro before fermentation. The two grapes have been used together that way for a very long time, and Commandaria has a documented history reaching back to the crusader period, which makes it one of the oldest named wines still made.