Blended Scotch Ice Wine Mavrodaphne Scotland Highland

In the Archaea region, high in the Northern Peloponnese mountains, the predominant grape varietal grown is the prized Mavrodaphne. Meaning 'Black Laurel', the Mavrodaphne grapes have extremely dark skins, and ripen slowly under the Greek sunshine, helped by the mineral rich soils the vines thrive in. This grape varietal is mostly used to produce the opaque, inky fortified wine of the same name, which is popular all over Greece and elsewhere in the world. This fortified wine allows the grapes to really show off their complex and fascinating flavors, which range from a rich marzipan to flavors of bitter chocolate, sweet coffee, dried figs and prunes, as well as plenty of jammy fruit notes.

Mavrodaphne is produced in a traditional method which involves leaving the grape juice exposed to the sun in large vats, before having its fermentation halted by the addition of various distillates taken from previous successful vintages. This mixture contains plenty of residual sugar, which gives the end result its characteristic sticky sweetness, and also helps with the next fermentation process, which typically takes place in large underground cellars. The final product is a heady drink, absolutely bursting with unusual, rich and sweet flavors and carried in a dark and slightly viscous Port-like liquid.

Mavrodaphne grapes are also used for the production of still red wines, but are generally blended with varietals such as Agiorgitiko or imported grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon. Mavrodaphne grapes are excellent for mellowing more acidic varieties, and producing deliciously rounded wines, which have taken the international market by storm in recent decades.

Additional Information on Greek Wines

Greek Wines
Ancient Greek Wines – A Brief History of Wine in Greece
The Myth of Dionysus, Greek God of Wine
What is Retsina?

For fans of fine scotch whisky, there’s nowhere quite like the Highlands. This single malt whisky region is the largest in Scotland, covering a vast swathe of the country and providing a great deal of variation, and both subtle and dramatic differences in style, flavor, aroma and character from bottle to bottle. This isn’t surprising, when you consider how varied the landscape of the Highlands is. Here, you find towering mountains, misty moorlands, urban centres and rugged coastlines, each with their own distilleries creating their own interpretations of single malt scotch whisky.

Due to it being such a large region, the Highlands produces around twenty-five percent of all Scotland’s whiskies. Thirty distilleries are still operating in the Highlands, continuing a set of whisky traditions that stretches back centuries, and always innovating and experimenting in order to achieve the best expression of their unique surroundings. Great pride is taken in maintaining traditional techniques, and alongside state of the art equipment, Highland scotch is forever pushing the possibilities and reaching new heights.

Highland scotch is difficult to pigeonhole and characterize with a set of flavors or features, because there is so much variety between the distilleries in the north, and those in the southern and central parts of this region. However, the most common flavor profiles include rich, fruit-cakey flavors, smoky notes from the production techniques which include burning peat, and dried fruit, oak and fragrant heather.