The
History of wine making goes back many thousands of years, both in real time and
in mythology. Bacchus, the Greek God of Wine, was perhaps the most toasted
mythological being of all time!The grape is thought to have emerged in Mesopotamia and the Caspian sea area some 8000 years ago. Certainly it was cultivated in Egypt at least 5000 years ago and if one visits the tombs of the Valleys of the Kings at Luxor in Upper Egypt one can see, as if they were painted just a few years ago, the niches depicting the animals and the bread and the fruits and the women …. and the flagons of wine that accompanied the great Pharaohs on their journey to the afterlife.
From archaeological evidence one can piece together the spread of the vine and, thus, the craft of winemaking - from the near Far East to the Middle East and then to Eastern Europe and Africa. By 2000 B.C. the vine had reached Greece and, possibly, Cyprus and by the time Christ was born it had reached as far as England.
Wine Making in Cyprus
It really isn’t known quite when the vine reached these shores. The Middle and Late Bronze age (1900 – 1100 B.C.) saw periods of unrest interspersed with periods of calm where trading flourished and it is certainly possible that either the Mycenaean Greek settlers or perhaps the Syrians before them would have brought the plant with them.
Certainly the Greeks and the Romans would have enjoyed the sweet wines of Cyprus as would the many rulers of the island as the centuries passed.
The 19th Century saw the beginnings of the modern wine-making industry when Haggipavlu started exporting Cyprus
wines throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. Exports soared in the 1870’s when
the Phylloxera beetle decimated vines throughout Europe – except those in
Cyprus. By 1890 Haggipavlu had established the first ‘modern’ winery in Limassol
producing both wine and spirits and the Chaplins’, an English family, built a
winery in Pera Pedi which produces wine to this day. In 1928 KEO was formed by EEOO – the Hellenic Company of Wines and Spirits who appointed their previous representative, Mr. Lanitis, as chairman. At that time the Mallia winery was created and Keo purchased the Chaplin’s winery. In 1934 Keo established a distillery near Limassol castle thus not only providing a steady income for vine growers but also providing serious competition to Haggipavlu’s brandy distillation business. Haggipavlu responded by establishing a sister company, ETKO, specialising in wine production rather than the distillation of spirits, which business Haggipavlu had leant towards in previous years.
LOEL was established as a co-operative in 1943 and, in 1956, established close trading relations with Eastern Europe while the last of the ‘big four’, SODAP, was established in 1948 by a consortium of wine growers.
The years of the 2nd World War saw exports of wine, much of it inexpensive bulk wine, sherry and brandy grow, particularly to the English and French who were engaged in North Africa and the Middle East. The popularity of these vine products endured, particularly with the British, and Cyprus enjoyed a booming demand from post-war Britain. Other post war export markets, Germany and even France, imported relatively inexpensive bulk wine from Cyprus to reinforce their own wines.
Recent History
Since 1983 the Cyprus Government has actively encouraged small wine growers to set up regional wineries. This has enabled higher quality wines to be produced, both in that smaller hi-tech fermentation vessels are employed so that fermentation temperature may be accurately controlled and also obviating the previously long journeys between the vine and the winery, thus ensuring that grapes reach the winery in optimum condition. In recent years wineries have collected grapes from their own vineyards, each a ‘terroir’ with its own particular microclimate, to produce wines with their own individual characteristics. Regional wineries have, too, made a positive contribution to rural employment.
The large producers have made their contribution also: Keo has acquired new, and improved its existing, regional wineries and have and are undertaking research in producing new grape varieties whilst ETKO has established a winery at Omodos in the heart of the vine growing foothills of Troodos. Vineyards have been replanted both with Cyprus and international grape varieties and modern research and production techniques have been introduced.
Today’s wine production is still very much in the hands of ‘the big four’ with Keo alone accounting for about 25% of the island’s wine production. The small wine producers account for about 10% of the wine produced on the island and, as yet, a small but growing share of the export market.
But, thanks to the Department of Agriculture’s forward thinking, small entrepreneurial vine growers have come forward to share responsibility for the great improvements in the ancient and noble tradition of wine making in Cyprus. Today there are 40 regional wineries of which at least 15 have facilities for visitors. All of them are equipped with modern equipment and it is in these rural wineries that award winning wines are likely to be produced in the future. This booklet is principally about them and we hope that the wine-lover will seek out the smaller wineries scattered around the villages of the vine growing hills of the Limassol and Paphos districts and sample for himself some of the delightful wines that they have to offer.
And we hope, too, that in its own little way this publication will help to inform the world in general that Cyprus wine is coming of age and that the industry is proud to count some of its products as amongst the best in the world.