What makes Cypriot wine so special? The resilience of the vines which have shown their strength and resistance, staying strong through historical and political upheavals of the past and which are now producing an outstanding and internationally accredited array of Cypriot wines.

The 12th annual Cyprus Wine Competition took place on 13 April 2019 at Nicosia’s Royal Hall, 36 Cypriot wineries participated in the event, representing 194 different varieties, the wines were judged by an international panel of wine experts. Given the volume of wineries concentrated around the Limassol and Pafos wine regions, most of the award-winning varieties hail from these areas. However, the Commandaria wine region which is protected also made an impact, as did Ktima Dafermou’s Assyrtiko, white dry 2018 vintage which bucked the trend, winning Gold for the Larnaka wine region.

Mr. Costas Kadis, Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment said on Saturday 13 April, that Cyprus has been implementing with success a plan to bring back local varieties of grapes and wines which were in danger of becoming extinct in favour of imported varieties, and this plan certainly seems to be paying off. This plan was intended to reverse the previous agriculture strategy. Back in July 2017, in an article named ‘Buyer on the road: Why Cypriot Wine can now be taken seriously’ by Justin Keay, a UK based writer and journalist, he outlines the positive changes that have been made overall in the industry considering when just shy of four decades ago in the 1980s, the government embarked on a campaign to eradicate local grapes in favour of foreign varieties, such as Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Merlot, Grenache and Syrah in the belief that they would help produce wines which would be more exportable. Grants were given to producers who uprooted local grapes and planted imported varieties, this was an almost catastrophic blow to the Cypriot wine industry and almost saw the eradication of many indigenous Cypriot grape varieties. This move set the Cypriot wine industry back decades, even if we only factor in the time producers spent uprooting these indigenous species which in some cases were growing for hundreds perhaps even for thousands of years.

After joining the European Union in 2014, Cyprus’ strategy changed following the general drive from the EU for its member nations to highlight and showcase local produce. This initiative drove the Cypriot wineries to reinvest in indigenous grape varieties, giving them to the opportunity to develop and mature these vines thereby creating the outstanding variety of wine that we see today and which has propelled Cyprus’ reputation in the international wine industry. Over the past few years, enough vineyards with local grape varieties were planted to produce adequate quantities of wine to quench the Cypriot demand, and with enough to sell some internationally. Much of the Cypriot wine stock (and the wines you’ll all be sampling at the Cypriot Wine Festival!) are being produced by small wineries in the vine growing areas, and any that are above an altitude of 700 meters are entitled to EU subsidies. This has definitely helped encourage more diversity in the Cypriot wine industry and encouraged small family boutique wineries to start up. The future looks very bright for Cypriot wines, and we must look to the future, but also learn from the past. You can’t help but wonder, where would the industry be had the old strategy not been followed!?

Mr Kadis said the participation of 36 wine producers who contested the prizes with 194 different varieties of wine was proof of the success of the drive to produce good wines with local varieties of grapes. Mr. Kadis continued to say, that in addition to the Wine Festival held each year in Limassol, which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors, the government will try to help wine producers with a promotion campaign for local wines at airports, hotels and organised visits by wine experts and journalists.

The beauty is that many of these award-winning wineries will have their wines available for tasting at CyWineFest 2019, watch this space to hear more about the Cypriot wine varieties that will be available to try and buy! So, we encourage you all to take the opportunity to try these award-winning wines and feel free to get in touch with us via our social media and make sure you stay up to date with the happenings of the Cypriot Wine Festival & Business Expo 2019!

Credit: Chriso Ioannou | Cyprus Wine Competition | Justin Keay

Photo credit:

(1) Sidebar – Design by Louis Loizou

(2) Mr.Costas Kadis presenting the Grand Gold Medal at the award ceremony – Cyprus News Agency (CNA)

(3) The competitions International Panel of Judges – Cyprus Wine Competition

(4) The judges getting a real feel – Cyprus Wine Competition

(5) Visitors enjoying the variety at the wine tasting tables at CyWineFest 2018 – Alexios Gennaris