Mavrodaphni, Mavrodaphne, or Mavrodafni (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Μαυροδάφνη ''lit.'' 'black laurel') is both a black

wine 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 ...

Mavrodaphni

Vitis International Variety Catalogue The Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC) is a database of various species and varieties/cultivars of grapevine, the genus ''Vitis''. VIVC is administered by the Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding (''Institut für Rebenzüchtung G ...

, accessed 2018-12-04 indigenous to the

Achaea Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek language, Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaḯa'', ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwest ...

region in Northern

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, and the sweet,

fortified wine Fortified wine is a wine to which a distilled spirit, usually brandy, has been added. In the course of some centuries, winemakers have developed many different styles of fortified wine, including port, sherry, madeira, Marsala, Command ...

first produced from it by Gustav Clauss in around 1850.

Winemaking

Mavrodaphni is initially vinified in large vats exposed to the sun. Once the wine reaches a certain level of maturity,

fermentation Fermentation is a type of anaerobic metabolism which harnesses the redox potential of the reactants to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and organic end products. Organic molecules, such as glucose or other sugars, are catabolized and reduce ...

is stopped by adding distillate prepared from previous vintages. Then the Mavrodaphni distillate and the wine, still containing

residual sugar The subjective sweetness of a wine is determined by the interaction of several factors, including the amount of sugar in the wine, but also the relative levels of alcohol, acids, and tannins. Sugars and alcohol enhance a wine's sweetness, while ...

, is transferred to the underground cellars to complete its maturation. There it is "educated" by contact with older wine using the solera method of serial blending. Once aged, the wine is bottled and sold as a

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 ...

under the Mavrodaphni

Protected designation of origin The protected designation of origin (PDO) is a type of geographical indication of the European Union aimed at preserving the designations of origin of food-related products. The designation was created in 1992 and its main purpose is to designat ...

Wine

Mavrodaphni is a dark, almost opaque wine with a dark purple reflected

color Color (or colour in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though co ...

and a purple-brown transmitted color. It presents aromas and flavors of caramel, chocolate, coffee, raisins and plums.

History

Mavrodaphne literally means "black laurel". The name was chosen by Gustav Clauss, the founder of the

Achaia Clauss Achaia Clauss is a Greece, Greek winery located in Patras in the Peloponnese. It was founded in 1861 by the Bavarian Gustav Clauss. It is most famous for its fortified red wine, Mavrodaphne. The winery was the main sponsor of the local basketbal ...

winery, because of the berries' resemblance to those of the laurel,Harold J. Grossman, ''Grossman's Guide to wines, spirits & beers'', 1940, p. 151 though there are various stories about a lover, fiancée, or wife named Daphne, who had black eyes or who died.Susanna Hoffman, ''The Olive and the Caper: Adventures in Greek Cooking'', 2004, p. 511

References

External links

CHRIS Distillery

Mavrodaphne of Patras CHRIS
{{wines Fortified wine Grape varieties of Greece Red wine grape varieties Appellations Greek products with protected designation of origin Peloponnese wine Economy of Patras Culture in Patras