Eurozone dining solidarity #1: Cyprus/Xynisteri

I don't know how much you've been watching the news, but the story of the last few weeks (off and on) has been the financial difficulty in Cyprus.  There's a lot of different takes on the story, and a lot of complexity on levels I certainly have no intention of getting into here.  But in the interests of demonstrating some solidarity with the bits of the Cypriot economy that have nothing to do with finance, we were drinking a Cypriot Xynisteri with dinner tonight.

Unlike most that seem to be mentioned, this is not a sticky but a dry-ish normal table white.  I thought it was sort of like a minerally Torrontes, but Mrs.--who has a more refined palate than I do, she reminds me--described it as sort of Chenin blanc with a dollop of Chardonnay when we had it with chicken a little while back, and tonight with salmon thinks its closer to a white Rioja.

However you describe it, tasty, and £14.50 at the Sampler in South Ken, or slightly cheaper by the crate from others.

By some coincidence, the cases of eurozone bailout/stress/whatever have coincided so far with well-developed traditional drinks culture, with either long and good wine tradition or, well, Ireland with a long and deep alcohol tradition.  Coincidence or not, it's a great excuse to show some solidarity at dinnertime.  And if Slovenia is next for a eurozone bailout, well, that's fine: they've been producing some good, underrated crispy whites recently...