The “Wine of Kings”

The most widely recognized Cypriot wine, the sweet dessert wine Commandaria, is the main player in Cyprus’ play for global recognition. An amber-colored dessert wine comprised of Mavro and Xynisteri grapes, it is made today essentially as it was thousands of years ago—grapes are sundried a week after harvesting to concentrate sugars, and taken down to Limassol for a minimum of two years of oak barrel aging.

With its lush honeyed, dried fruit and toasted toffee flavors, Commandaria is a logical hit internationally, but its dramatic history does as much to sell Cyprus and its winemaking culture as the quality of the wine. In addition to its popularity in ancient Greek and Roman times, Commandaria was served at the 12th century wedding of Richard the Lionheart to Berengaria of Navarre, in the town of Limassol.

The Knights Templar, whose headquarters in the Kolossi castle were surrounded by vineyards, became involved with commercially producing the sweet wine, giving it and the region in which it was grown the name Commandaria (named after their command post and environs), and were responsible for kickstarting its global recognition. Commandaria production was up 137 percent from 2008 to 2009, a sign of its modern appeal.

Mavro, named so because of its black color, is the most widely planted variety in Cyprus and is used in most of Cyprus’ red blends and table wines. Though found throughout the island, Mavro’s best results come from the high-altitude regions of Afames, Maona (in the Lemesos region) and Pitsilia. Balanced but not terribly elegant, Mavro once accounted for 86 percent of all plantings in Cyprus; that number is decreasing as new varieties are imported.

Grown most successfully in the Agros and Ayios Theodoros in Pitisila, and the Wine Villages of Lemesos, Ofthalmo is a red local variety offering concentrated aromas and a higher acid character that contributes well to blends with more robust grapes like Cabernet or Maratheftiko.