Mavro (, meaning "black") is an indigenous red

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...

cultivated on the island of

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. The grape takes its name from its dark colour. The Italian ampelographer, Count Giuseppe di Rovasenda refers to it in 1877 as Cipro Nero ''(Cyprus black)''. An ancient variety, its suitability to the hot Cypriot climate has made it the dominant cultivated vine on the island. It accounts for 70% of cultivated vines. Of note is that Mavro continues to grow on ancient rootstock unlike most mainland European grapes that are grafted on North American rootstock. This is a consequence of Cyprus’ escape from the

phylloxera Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belongs to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, bugs); orig ...

epidemic An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of hosts in a given population within a short period of time. For example, in meningococcal infection ...

that had devastated most other European vineyards, in the 19th century. Mavrud is a Bulgarian wine with a similar name made from mavrud grapes. Recent genotyping has shown that these two varieties (Mavro and Mavrud) are not related. Mavro grapes are used in the production of several (predominantly red) local wines. Most notably however, Mavro is blended with the

Xynisteri Xynisteri (also spelled xinisteri; ) is an indigenous white grape grown on Cyprus. According to some estimates, 33% of Cypriot vineyards, on the south slopes of the Troodos mountain range are planted with this grape variety, a fact that makes X ...

grape for the production of

Commandaria Commandaria (also called Commanderia and Coumadarka; , and Cypriot Greek κουμανταρκά) is an amber-coloured sweet dessert wine made in the Commandaria region of Cyprus on the foothills of the Troödos Mountains. Commandaria is made fro ...

, a well-known Cypriot

dessert wine Dessert wines, sometimes called pudding wines in the United Kingdom, are sweet wines typically served with dessert. There is no simple definition of a dessert wine. In the UK, a dessert wine is considered to be any sweet wine drunk with a mea ...

. It is also used in the production of the spirit zivania. Harvesting usually takes place in September.

References

{{reflist, 2 Red wine grape varieties Grape varieties of Cyprus