The sweet wine Monemvasia lost, and the family that went looking for it

Monemvasia Winery exists because of a wine that stopped being made in the 16th century. The house was founded in 1997, by Yorgos and Elli Tsimbidi, who began with no vineyard and one conviction: that the sweet white the medieval world called Malvasia belonged to Monemvasia and should be made there again. Yorgos Tsimbidi has said he first heard of it as a child, in his grandmother’s stories about a legendary sweet wine that belonged to the town.

Malvasia was the sun-dried sweet white of medieval Monemvasia, traded east and west, and the Frankish merchants working the area named it after the castle town they bought it in. Under Ottoman rule, in the 16th century, the vineyards were destroyed and production ceased.

Twelve years to an appellation

Reviving it meant proving to the authorities that the wine and its place still existed, and that took 12 years. The family worked with Greek oenological research and the country’s agricultural universities on the science behind the case. On 23 July 2010, the anniversary of Monemvasia’s liberation from the Ottomans, Monemvasia-Malvasia was recognised as a protected designation of origin, covering Monemvasia, Asopos, Vies and Molai at the south-eastern end of Laconia.

The appellation requires oxidative ageing of at least two years, and beyond that in multiples of four. The grapes are sun-dried on racks or on the ground for 8 to 12 days, until the moisture has gone and the sugars are concentrated. The first bottling followed in 2013, after two years’ ageing.

The vineyard

The vines lie at Velies and Agios Demetrios, in the Municipality of Monemvasia. The family gave its first years to documenting and studying the local varieties, and planted nothing until 2005. It farms 30 hectares of organic vineyard now, 10 kilometres from the sea at 250 to 300 metres, on schist and clay-loam. Yields are held low, close to 3,500 kilos a hectare in places, and every vineyard task is done by hand.

Varieties they had to find first

The house works Greek varieties and nothing else, and four of them came out of obscurity through the family’s search: Monemvasia, Kydonitsa, Asproudi and Mavroudi. Kydonitsa is a rare local white that ripens in early to mid-September and asks for careful handling in the vineyard; the house calls the variety the flagship of the Laconian terroir. Monemvasia ripens from the end of August into early September. Asproudi turned out to contain a group of unstudied varieties of its own. Mavroudi is a local red whose grapes go almost black at full ripeness, which is where the name comes from. Assyrtiko, Agiorgitiko and Limniona fill out the planting. A European research programme hosted at the winery recorded 14 vine varieties growing in the area.

The winery, and a visit

The working winery was completed in 2020, 10 kilometres from the castle of Monemvasia. Reds and whites are aged below ground, in oak barrel and in bottle. Yorgos and Elli now work alongside the second generation: Marialena, who studied agronomy, and Anastasia, who studied chemistry, with the oenologist Andreas Andresakis.

A visit is a tasting of 60 to 90 minutes. The four-wine Tour Tasting takes in the Kydonitsa, the Laludi rosé, the Monemvasios red and the PDO Monemvasia-Malvasia. The six-wine horizontal, Terroir, adds the Monemvasia white, the Panther rosé and the 300 Red. Both come with selected local products, and a vegetarian or vegan option is available on request. Tastings run Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00 to 16:00, by reservation. A private tasting can be arranged for up to 35 seated guests, with room for seven more at the bar.

Who is this for

This suits a traveller who wants wine explained in plain terms. The house asks no prior knowledge of its guests, and its tasting rooms were built for sitting and talking. It stands inland at the 57th kilometre of the Tarapsa to Monemvasia road, among vine rows and bare Laconian hills. Children are welcome too: there is an educational tour on wine, on responsible drinking and on the natural environment of the region. Come with a reservation, and with an appetite for a grape you will not meet at home.