Wines - Wineries in Cyprus

Cypriot wine has made qualitative leaps in recent years and the effort continues! If you are looking for the best, read below...

Wine is a popular drink that includes a wide range of European and Mediterranean flavours, ranging from the simplest and the traditional to the most complex. Additionally, it is an important agricultural product that reflects the diversity of the soil and the climate of a place.

Cypriot wine has made qualitative leaps in recent years and the effort continues. In Cyprus you will find great wineries that produce excellent quality Cypriot wine, which is committed to fascinating even the most demanding palates.

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, a product of fermentation of grapes. The vine, from which the wine comes, according to paleontologists, has been a prehistory of many millions of years. Prior to the Ice Age, it has flourished in Iceland, Northern Europe and Northwest Asia. The glaciers have greatly reduced its spread. Over the years, several populations have moved to warmer areas, carrying with them and dealing with wine. This gives us various varieties of wine. The way wine was produced in earlier times did not differ materially from the modern practices we all know.

Cyprus is one of the oldest winemaking countries in the world. Recent archaeological research confirms that wine is produced in Cyprus for at least 5500 years. A lot of mosaics and amphoras in the city of Pafos highlight the important role that the Cypriot race held during the Roman period.

The wine of Cyprus, or the "Cypriot Nama," as Euripides called it, according to the Talmud of Jerusalem, was used at the worship ceremonies of the goddess Aphrodite. The "Cypriot Nama" was a sweet wine made of raisins. This wine was renamed Commandaria, in the 12th century, from its place of production. This area was located west of Limassol and was the base of the Knights Templar. During this period, Commandaria was the main source of wealth for the knights.

Later during the Ottoman domination wine production was banned and almost ended. The Cypriot wine revived only when Cyprus passed from the hands of the Turks to the hands of the English. During this period, four large wineries were established, which controlled the entire wine industry in Cyprus until the end of the 1980s. The island was unfortunately then known as a low quality wine country. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the securing of Serry as a product of the Origin of Higher Quality, Cyprus lost its entire export market and so suddenly Cyprus was exposed with huge quantities of low quality grapes and a wine industry designed to produce wine in huge quantities.
The then government, in its effort to help the wine industry cope with its problems, had given incentives to create small wineries and introduced varieties of vines that have proven to produce quality wine.

Cypriot wines are worthy and can be proud to stand next to wines from any other country. Distinctions in international wine competitions every year are proof of their quality. The road that the Cypriot wine follows has changed radically. Cypriot wine producers are now focusing on Cypriot native varieties, some of which were unknown a few years ago. The Cypriot wine has now found its own unique character, integrating harmoniously the 5500 years of history and the new era with self-confidence, passion and love.

Historically, in Cyprus in the 1960s, two native, wine grape varieties, Black and Xynisteri were dominated by other red varieties such as Oftalmos, Lefkada, Maratheftiko, Bulariko, Giannoudi and white winemakers such as Malaga, Spurtiki, Kanella, Primara and Moroccanella . Since 1970, varieties such as Carignan Noir, Grenache Noir, Palomino, etc. have begun to grow, and varieties like Cabernet, Shiraz, Merlot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon, Semillon, ect.

The seven wine routes created by the Cyprus Tourism Organisation in the corresponding wine-growing regions of Cyprus are as follows:

• Laona-Akamas: picturesque villages with a rich cultural and viticultural tradition in the northwestern part of Cyprus.
• Vouni Panagias-Ambelitis: a wonderful route to the inland hinterland of Eastern Pafos, with endless choices of local produce.
• Diarizou Valley: an excursion to the natural beauties of a vine-covered trail, east of the city of Pafos.
• Krassochoria Limassol: 20 picturesque villages, each with its own character but all with a remarkable wine tradition, on the southern slopes of the Troodos mountain range.
• Commandaria: To the north of Limassol are known and unknown corners that preserve the myth of the most important wine of the island.
• Pitsilia: Where the pine forest coexists with the vineyard, in the mountainous area of Pitsilia, which extends to the east of the highest peak of Troodos.
• Mountains of Larnaka-Nicosia: In ten mountainous villages located south of Nicosia and west of Larnaka, wonderful locations with Cypriot traditions still alive. 

We searched for and found the most excellent Wines - Wineries of Cyprus with the most unpretentious quality of Cypriot wine and we are here to introduce them to you.

The Wines - Wineries listed below are known to us and we are sure that you will be satisfied with their products. However, if there is a problem, please let us know. Send us an email here, we want to know about it.