Plyto

Plyto is a rare Cretan white with a genuinely aristocratic secret: it is a close genetic relative of Assyrtiko, Greece's most celebrated white. It makes a fresh, high-acid, mineral wine with green apple, lemon, white peach and quince and a chalky, saline finish, textural enough to carry a hint of grip.

A rescue with a paper trail

Like Dafni, Plyto had slipped into obscurity by the end of the twentieth century, and like Dafni it was rescued by the Lyrarakis family, who replanted it in their Psarades vineyard in the early 1990s. The dates here are unusually precise: Lyrarakis released the first commercially bottled single-variety Plyto in 1995, which makes it one of the best-documented modern grape recoveries in Greece.

The pedigree is real. A peer-reviewed SNP study in 2020 found Plyto in a close, second-degree relationship with Assyrtiko and an Italian variety, a rare case of a neglected island grape turning out to have famous relations. Its etymology, by contrast, has no reliable explanation, so we leave it unexplained rather than invent one.

In the glass and at the table

Grown at altitude and picked at low yields, Plyto keeps vibrant, mineral-edged acidity. It is made as a dry, still, single-variety white, and Lyrarakis's version is organic and vegan-certified. Its citrus-and-saline profile suits shellfish, fried fish and salads. It remains rare, grown mainly in the Heraklion region, with old vines surviving in eastern Crete.