The idea of this article came to me quite spontaniously when two days ago I posted a photo on Instagram about the wines of Xinomavro which I had the chance to taste while I was doing my CMS exam in Greece. And I was a little bit surprised that even wine connoisseurs don’t really know or tasted wines made from this grape.
So I decided to look a bit deeper inside and give you some information of the grape variety and the wines made from it.
It is most likely originates from Naoussa, a region of northern Greece, where there are the main plantings as well. The Naoussa PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) has to be made with 100 percent Xinomavro grapes. This is the case with the Amynteo PDO too, it has to consist only Xinomavro while in other PDOs can blend other grape varieties to balance the flavours and characteristics of the wine. In Goumenissa at least 20% of Negoska must be blended in the wines and in Rapsani, Xinomavro is an equal partner of Krassato and Stravroto. In some other places is getting more popular to blend Xinomavro with Merlot and Syrah but in that case the wines only can be labeled as PGI designations.
If Xinomavro is the only grape in the wine, it will produce full-body with high acidity ( hence the name: Xinomavro = acid black) with high tannins which are going to give the wine excellent potencal for ageing. If you taste the wine young, you will find flavours of strawberry, plum and dry tannins, that with age will became softer and gets more complexity and elegance with more savoury aromas of tomato, olives and dried fruit.
It has a dark skin, and the size of the berries varies from clone to clone which has more and more, some of them more suitied of cooler climat, some ripens earlier, dependent of the region of culivation. In general it is a mid budding and late ripening grape variety and best on poor sandy soils and care has to be taken, because quality can vary vintage by vintage.
I think we can all see now why a lot of people try to find connection between Xinomavro, Nebbiolo and even Pinot Noir but it looks like science is going to defeat this theory because DNA analysis has shown it to be genetically distinct from both.
If you haven’t tasted wines from Xinomavro, watch out for it, and have some in your cellar for further ageing, it would be fun to compare with a Barolo in 15 years time! If you like lighter wines, Xinomavro produces some lovely rosés, still or sparkling, and at various sweetness levels.
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