Grape Profile – Xinomavro

 

Pronunciation: ksee-NO-ma-vro

 

Aroma and Flavours

• Red fruit (cherry, raspberry, strawberry)
• Tomato leaf and olive tapenade
• Warm spices (clove, allspice, liquorice)
• Mushroom, truffle
• Earth, tobacco, and sundried tomato with age

 

Profile

• Body: Medium to full
• Tannins: High, firm
• Acidity: High

 

Compared with

• Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Pinot Noir

 

Pairs well with

• Chargrilled octopus or sardines
• Mushroom and truffle dishes
• Game, sausages, or aged cheeses
• Rich and aged red meat

 

What it’s all about

Xinomavro is Greece’s most complex and noblest red grape. Its name translates to ‘sour-black,’ in reference to its naturally high acidity. It is most famously grown in Naoussa (Greece’s first wine PDO appellation), Amyndeon, Rapsani, Siatista, and Goumenissa in northwest Greece — regions defined by altitude, limestone, schist, and sandy soils, and a distinctly continental climate.

 

Often described as Greece’s answer to nebbiolo, xinomavro can produce wines similarly light in colour, high in acid, with firm tannins and a haunting quality. However, the aromatics and character are quite different, and both grapes are uniquely their own.

 

Xinomavro wines often begin with a hit of candied or stewed red and black cherries and a characteristic, unmistakable tomato-leaf herbal lift. The use of oak adds warm spice, and with age, earthy, truffle, and tobacco notes emerge while the tomato evolves into sundried tomato.

 

In PDO Naoussa, xinomavro finds its most classical form — firm, ageworthy, and intensely aromatic. However, producers have moved on from the rustic style of the past that required many years of ageing before the wines could be enjoyed. Modern Naoussa is surprisingly welcoming.

The higher, cooler vineyards of PDO Amyndeon, with its poor, sandy soils tend to yield lighter, more fragrant expressions, including some of Greece’s finest rosés and sparkling wines. PDO Rapsani and PDO Goumenissa produce softer styles, blended with other local varieties. The rocky soils of Rapsani in particular produce wines reminiscent of the northern Rhône.

Finally, Siatista lacks the PDO recognition and was almost abandoned, but is emerging as a location where the rocky-limestone soil, old vines, and elevation produce Xinomavros of incredible delicacy and finesse.

 

Xinomavro’s temperament in the vineyard mirrors its character in the glass, demanding but rewarding. It ripens late, prefers poor, well-drained soils, and is highly sensitive to vintage conditions. When handled with care, however, it produces reds of striking depth, complexity, and longevity — capable of ageing gracefully for decades.

However, it is also a remarkably versatile grape, producing the best blanc-de-noir and rosé sparkling wine in Greece, still whites that rival Chablis, and both light and darker rosés – in fact Amyndeon is Greece’s only PDO rosé region. It can also be made as a single varietal or blended.

 

In all its forms, xinomavro stands as one of the great expressions of Greek terroir, austere yet captivating, savoury yet scented, a wine that rewards patience and curiosity in equal measure. The interplay of savoury complexity, freshness, and red-fruited delicacy gives xinomavro a personality both intellectual and deeply Mediterranean.