Thrapsathiri

Thrapsathiri is one of Crete's quiet success stories, an aromatic white long hidden inside Vilana blends and now increasingly bottled on its own. It gives relatively full-bodied, soft-acid wines with melon and peach, floral and mineral notes and a touch of spice, richer and rounder than the lighter Vilana it usually grows alongside.

A name that misleads

The name reads as a brittle form of Athiri, the Aegean grape, and for decades Thrapsathiri was treated as a type of Athiri. Modern DNA overturned that: it is a distinct variety whose closest links are to Vidiano, Begleri and Dafnato, not Athiri, which makes its name a genetic red herring. Its precise place among the Cretan whites is asserted by the reference work Wine Grapes rather than settled by a single study, so it is fair to call it a relative of Vidiano without drawing a firm family tree.

Built for a warming climate

Thrapsathiri is among the most drought-tolerant of Crete's whites, thriving as old bush vines in the island's hottest, driest sites, which makes it strategically interesting as the climate warms. It is late-ripening and, like most quality Cretan whites, needs low yields for concentration. It appears across the island from Chania to Lasithi, with the most admired examples from Heraklion and the Sitia zone, where it partners Vilana in the PDO white, and it also lends itself to the sweet Malvasia appellations.

In the glass expect a pale lemon-green wine, full-ish and round with soft acidity; most is best within about four years, though a few producers make versions that develop for longer. It suits white meats and grilled fish. Benchmarks include Lyrarakis's single-vineyard Armi and Idaia's Ocean.