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We went with friends to Zaytinya in downtown DC this weekend. If you’ve never been, it’s great - the Greek equivalent of a tapas restaurant, though more sophisticated than that I think. Anyway, they have a good selection of Greek and Middle Eastern wines, which I’ve sampled through in the past (including varietals like Xynomavro, Assyrtiko and others). This time, at the end of the meal I tried a Mavrodaphne, which I’d been wanting to do for a while.

Basically this red grape is grown in and around Patras for use in a relatively famous Greek dessert wine of the same name. I’ve seen different Mavrodaphnes on sale at Total Wine stores before. This particular bottle (I didn’t write down the exact name) reminded me of a young, aggressive version of ruby port. That is, it was a little sweet, with some caramel and creme bruleé, but also a lot of acid. It was nice, but not particularly special, and in fact an actual ruby port would probably have been nicer. Nevertheless, it was still a nice experience, and it’s a varietal to add to the life list.