Greetings, fellow guzzlers!
This week, I want to try something a little different - literally. On the Something Different part of my blog, I want to highlight unusual or niche food products. I will tend to pick items which are not too far off mainstream, so that everyone should have a pretty easy job of finding the item I highlight, but strange enough that hopefully you can make the odd real discovery.
My first product is Mavrodaphne wine. Wine may not be the first thing one thinks of with Greece, especially when such excellent products as Greek olives and feta have to be considered, but then again Mavrodaphne is not a typical wine.
The exact bottle I am choosing for this feature is Kourtaki's Mavrodaphne of Patras Cameo which I bought in Waitrose for £6.69.
Classified as a fortified dessert wine, Mavrodaphne (according to Fringe Wine1) mostly hails from the north of the Peloponnese in the area around the city of Patras.
As a brand and process, Mavrodaphne wine was established by the Bavarian Gustav Clauss in the second half of the nineteenth century. He used Port production techniques to produce a dessert wine rather than the over-sweet table wines then made with the grape.
Upon pouring, the wine is like deep red velvet - crimson in hue and slightly opaque. Held up to the light, the liquid shines but in a far more gently, diffuse way than the sharp, clear manner of normal table reds.
On the nose, the wine is sweet and fruity, bringing to mind rich dried fruits such as dates and (perhaps not surprisingly) raisins.
This theme very much transfers to the flavour. It is heady and sweat, like a sultry summer evening, but with just enough sour undertones to prevent it from being sickly.
It is a delight as an aperitif and goes extremely well with chocolate. However, despite being a dessert wine, I also very much enjoyed drinking it with meat main dishes. The effect is very similar to the way Middle Eastern stews often pair meat and dried fruit and indeed I feel it is with rich stews that it pairs best.
In terms of price, my bottle at least seemed very reasonable. For £6.69 one can buy some truly indifferent wines, lacking in any number of areas from top and bottom notes to body to simply vanishing off the palate as soon as swallowed. However, the Mavrodaphne of Patras Cameo's fully rounded flavour hung around the mouth long after swallowing.
Overall, Mavrodaphne wine is a hidden treat. Sweet, rich and fruity, it is a versatile drink that can be enjoyed equally in its intended purpose as a dessert wine or aperitif or as an exciting accompaniment to a stew.
1 Fringe Wine: Mavrodaphne - Patras, Greece
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