Mouchtaro is one of the rarest Greek varieties, only grown in the valley where the 9 muses lived, as the legend has it, near Askri village in Voiotia Prefecture. Mouchtaro has small, very dark berries that produce dense wines, with surprisingly soft tannins despite the long extraction times practiced. It yields highly acidic wines that can just as easily be enjoyed fresh or be aged for up to a decade. Its prominent aromas are red fruit, sour cherries, blueberries, prunes, grass and herbal notes. This variety is also used to produce a sweet wine after the grapes are sundried for a whole week, loyal to a millennia-old technique described by Pafsanias in “Periigisis”.
This sweet wine has exceptional acidity and notes of raisin and dry nuts. The dry wines are versatile and pair well with grilled pork, poultry and pasta with red sauce whilst the fresh ones also go well with fish. The sweet ones would be perfect with oven baked apples, pears or quince