🍇 Mandilaria

Mandilaria is a red wine grape from Greece. Wines of Greece describes it as a late-harvested variety that has spread widely across the islands. VIVC records 682 ha in Greece (2008). The grape is part of the Paros, Peza, Archanes and Rhodes appellations, so it is at home on Crete, the Cyclades and Rhodes.

Its names also speak of how widely it has spread: among its 41 synonyms in VIVC are Amorgiano, Pariano, Vaftra, Koundoura mavra and Mantilari. Wines of Greece explicitly calls these names evidence of how far the grape has travelled.

On Paros, according to the PDO file, Mandilaria grapes are combined with the white Monemvasia. On Crete the variety is part of PDO Peza together with Kotsifali and Vilana, and of PDO Archanes together with Kotsifali. It is also listed in the PDO Rhodes file.

The area in Greece is shrinking: 1,589 ha in 1989, 845 ha in 1999 and 682 ha in 2008 (VIVC). In two decades Mandilaria has thus fallen to less than half, and today it is above all a grape of island appellations.

Why it matters to you. On Greek labels look for Mandilaria, Mandilari or Amorgiano; it is one grape. If the grape is named on an EU wine, it makes up at least 85 % of it. Archanes and Peza wines combine Mandilaria with Kotsifali, so the appellation name already hints at the grapes in the bottle. Red wines are served at 15–18 °C.