mavrodaphne

English

A bottle of mavrodaphne

Alternative forms

• mavrodafni (alternative transliteration)
• Mavrodaphne

Etymology

From Greek μαυροδάφνη (mavrodáfni), from Medieval Greek μαῦρος (maûros, “dark”) + δάφνη (dáphnē, “laurel”) (see also Daphne).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mævɹəˈdæfni/

Noun

mavrodaphne (usually uncountable, plural mavrodaphnes)

1. A dark sweet Greek red wine.
   • 1992, Vilma Chantiles, Food of Greece, page 347:

     SALTSA MAVRODAPHNI
     [Sweet mavrodaphne wine sauce]
     A wonderful use of the superb mavrodaphne wine, very new, very Athenian.

   • 2002, Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex, page 269:

     Silently, in the widow's position of honor at the head of the table, she picked at her whitefish and drank her glass of Mavrodaphne, but her thoughts were as obscured to me as her face behind her black veil.

2. A variety of grape native to Achaea, northern Peloponnese, Greece, from which the wine is made.
   • 2012, Joel Butler, Randall Heskett, Divine Vintage: Following the Wine Trail from Genesis to the Modern Age, page 223:

     He^{[Gustav Clauss]} established vineyards in the area, using local grapes, especially the “black grape of Dafne,” mavrodaphne. He created the sweet style of mavrodaphne known today.