Robola

At a glance

A white grape variety from the island of Cephalonia which has started unfolding its virtues and has revealed a wine that has the character of a baby Assyrtiko. It is the dominant white variety of the beautiful Ionian island and covers approximately 165ha of land according to agronomist Gerasimos Danalatos. To a limited degree, it has also been planted in other areas of Greece (approximately 10ha) such as Macedonia (Drama and Kavala), the Peloponnese and Central Greece in the valley of Atalanti. The variety gives the name to the region’s PDO, Robola of Cephalonia. Actually, this is the only appellation for dry wines in Greece that refers to a single variety and not a region. And although this may sound prestigious, it actually isolates the variety, as it cannot appear on any label outside the PDO region, which is rather strange. 

In Cephalonia, Robola thrives on poor stony soils, sometimes so stony that the Italians called the wine Vino di Sasso, meaning “wine of the stones’’. On the mountainous slopes of Ainos, one can still find many own-rooted, old bush-vines; an ode to its heritage. Robola of Cephalonia is intricately connected with the culture, the local cuisine, residents' daily lives, and tourists on the island.