🥃 Tentoura

Tentoura, also spelled Tentura (Greek: Τεντούρα), is an EU protected name for a dark spiced liqueur from the Patras area in the north-west Peloponnese. According to its technical file, it is made from ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin flavoured with an extract of cinnamon bark and clove buds; other aromatic plants are allowed as long as cinnamon and clove predominate. The colour is dark brown-red. The minimum strength is 18% ABV and the minimum sugar content is 120 g/l, expressed as invert sugar.

How it is made. Cinnamon and clove are extracted by maceration and/or distillation, and the extract is blended with alcohol and water and sweetened, normally with sugar and sometimes honey. Only natural flavourings, the sweet wines Mavrodaphne of Patras, Muscat of Patras or Muscat of Rio, and caramel for colour may be added; nothing else is allowed. If the label adds “of Patras”, the liqueur needs at least 20% ABV, 150 g/l of sugar and at least 0.5% sweet wine.

Area and history. The area is the municipality of Patras and the municipal units of Farres and Olenia in the Western Greece Region; six older distilleries outside it may keep using the name. The file traces a precursor called moschovolithra, “sweet-smelling”, to about 1218 and cites a Patras price list of 1885 that includes tentura. It gives the most widely accepted origin of the name as the Latin tinctus via French teinture.

Why this matters to you. The name guarantees the Patras area and a spiced liqueur of at least 18% ABV and 120 g/l of sugar, not medicine. The WHO reminds us that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.