Xinomavro, the grape of the gods

If your idea of Greek wine starts and ends with retsina, then you’ve been drinking in the wrong places. Because this ancient winemaking culture is now in the midst of an exciting renaissance. One of the heroes of the piece is the indigenous variety Xinomavro (ksi-no-ma-vro), a grape that’s almost as delicious to say as it is to drink. Between the silvery “x” and the final, resonant “o” it touches almost every part of your palate. It’s a grape that can offer huge variety, too, depending on how and where it’s grown – capable of producing juicy, age-worthy reds, champagne-like sparkling wines, whites and appetising rosés. No surprise it is often dubbed Greece’s most “noble” black grape. 

“Xinomavro has been cultivated in key winemaking areas of Greece for hundreds of years,” says Yannos Hadjiioannou of Greek wine specialists Maltby & Greek. “Now thanks to a shift in Greek winemaking away from international varieties back to indigenous grapes, and a new generation of young winemakers, it’s gaining its rightful place on the global viticultural map.”

It has that rare ability to transport you to the place it was grown

Xinomavro is often likened to Nebbiolo, the grape from which Barolo is made. It can be quite high-acid when young (its name means “sour-black”) with assertive tannins, but it develops more perfume and finesse as it ages. Even in youth, though, it can show vibrant red cherry, tomato and herbal notes that are absolutely mouth-watering. “What makes Xinomavro special is that it has that rare ability to transport the drinker to the place it was grown,” says Noble Rot co-founder Mark Andrew MW, “capturing the herbal perfume, plum, olive and dried tomato characters that are so quintessentially Greek”.

Xinomavro Jeunes Vignes, £13.50, thewinesociety.com

Alpha Estate Xinomavro Rosé, £25, maltbyandgreek.com

Xinomavro-based wines are made across northern Greece, but the grape’s heartland is Naoussa in the hills of Macedonia. This is where you’ll find Apostolos Thymiopoulos, a winemaker often hailed as the hero of the Greek new wave. At his organic/biodynamic winery in the village of Trilofos, Thymiopoulos produces 10 different expressions of xinomavro. His Xinomavro Jeunes Vignes is a great-value introduction to the grape, full of juicy cherry juice notes and parched herbs. It’s a favourite at The Wine Society, where it was a winner at the 2023 Wine Champions blind-tasting (£13.50, thewinesociety.com).

At a recent Maltby & Greek tasting I also enjoyed the polished xinomavros of Alpha Estate, a modern winery in Amyndeon, just to the west of Naoussa, that applies French winemaking know-how to both international and Greek grapes. The Xinomavro Amyndeon PDO Single Vineyard Hedgehog 2021 had vivacious notes of damson and sloe and some lightly spiced grip (£23, maltbyandgreek.com).

In the right hands, Xinomavro can age impressively. Dalamara’s brick-tinted Paliokalias 2020 (£56, shrinetothevine.co.uk) is a properly fine wine with a patina of more mature characters – ginger cake, sundried tomato, scented woods – and an elegant tannin.

Xinomavro can also be put to good use in rosé. Alpha Estate’s Xinomavro Rosé (£25, maltbyandgreek.com), is as crisp as a raspberry sorbet. Thymiopoulos’s copper-coloured Xinomavro Rosé (£19, theatreofwine.com), on the other hand, is more reminiscent of an orange wine (even if it technically isn’t one) – it has a broad texture and deep notes of blood orange and saffron that make it a favourite of sommeliers.

Dalamara Paliokalias 2020, £56, shrinetothevine.co.uk

Alkemi, £21.50, thesourcingtable.com

When the London wholesaler Indigo Wine decided to make a gastronomic rosé they went to the organic Naoussa winemaker Markos Markovitis. The result was Alkemi (£21.50, thesourcingtable.com) a xinomavro with the zing of pink grapefruit and the sweet perfume of persimmon flesh.

Sparkling xinomavro is rarer – but it’s the speciality of Domaine Karanika, a small winery in Amyndeon that makes award-winning blanc de noirs using the traditional, or “champagne”, method. Karanika’s founders Laurens M Hartman-Karanika and Annette van Kampen were born in the Netherlands (though Hartman-Karanika’s mother was Greek) – but the pair decided to make wine in Greece after falling in love with the Xinomavro grape. “I find it a fascinating variety to work with,” says Hartman-Karanika, “because it is very reflective of the soil.” He describes their approach as “super-organic”; they work with small plots of ungrafted vines that are 30-100 years old.

Their Brut Cuvée Speciale Xinomavro 2022 is easy to love – it’s all sherbety Dip-Dabs and citrus jelly sweets (£26, maltbyandgreek.com). The ultra-dry Extra Cuvée de Reserve 2017 (£37.50, maltbyandgreek.com), though, is a real step up, marrying lemon zest and thyme with the gravitas of six years spent ageing on the lees.

Karanika’s Brut is a house pour at Oma in Borough, the super new “Greek-ish” restaurant from chef David Carter (Smokestak, Manteca). It’s a great match for the crudo menu, which features tongue-spangling dishes like yellowfin tuna with clementine and aged soy. Other highlights from the extensive xinomavro selection include the aforementioned rosé: “It’s a really versatile rosé for food – great with spicy, green and charred things, like grilled octopus with tomato sauce,” says the wine list’s creator Emily Acha Derrington. This summer, X marks the spot. 

@alicelascelles