Greco Bianco

Also known as Greco, Malvasia di Lipari (in some sources, debated).

Greco Bianco is the principal white grape of Calabria, grown across the region and best known in two very different guises: as the dry white of Cirò Bianco and Melissa, and as the grape of the celebrated sweet passito Greco di Bianco at the Ionian toe of the peninsula (whose name comes from the town of Bianco). The 'Greco' family of southern-Italian whites reflects an ancient Greek/Magna Graecia association, though the various Grecos are not all the same variety.

It gives fresh, savoury dry whites of citrus, white flowers and a faint herbal or saline note, and — when the grapes are dried — intensely aromatic amber sweet wines of orange blossom, honey, dried apricot and citrus peel, with a characteristic bitter-orange finish. It is a versatile and historic Calabrian variety.