Ilarion hall

The wine museum is worth making a day of, if only for the tasting

The tour at the wine museum ended with a video on the history of wine in Cyprus. The museum itself is a must for anyone who respects history and this precious liquid. Moreover, wine museums have one extra advantage compared to other museums. Almost all of them have a cellar or a room for tasting. And the Cyprus Wine Museum is no exception, it has Ilarion Hall.

There were black and white pictures on the staircase walls, descending to the cellar taken during the first wine festival in Limassol. The year was 1961. A couple of them featured the man behind the festival’s many signs, a Turkish Cypriot named Rashid. It was an original work and most of the wineries employed him for their innovative stands.

The Ilarion Hall is spacious, it used to be the dinning room of the old inn. This is where the visitors will quench their thirst with a glass of a red, white or ros? after completing the tour, after all, it’s included in the ticket. On the day we visited, it was chilly and had been raining. The fireplace provided, literally as well as metaphorically, additional warmth to the place, along with the impressive antique furniture.

In the middle, there were long tables with chairs ideal for a group wine tasting. A bar counter is situated near the exit to the car park, were visitors will enjoy their glass of wine. Around in the stone arches and shelves there were bottles of wine. Most of the wineries are on display with their wines - if you need a visual list of the Cypriot wineries, all 35 of them and their wines are on display at Ilarion Hall.

The Cyprus Wine Museum is a wine tasting attraction too. It is perfect for newcomers to acquaint themselves with Cypriot wine. The cellar provides those who wish to participate with proper wine glasses. The manager of the museum, Pambos Papadopoulos, is a knowledgeable host and guides you through the various wine regions, grapes and individual wineries. The place is perfect for the enthusiastic connoisseur. A wine storage room is separate and it is ideally constructed to safeguard stored wine. All bottles of wine that are for sale are nurtured in controled temperatures and humidity as well as with the minimum lighting. Available also are all Commandaria wines and a good selection of Zivanias.

Soon there will be packages for private wine tasting sessions, designed to be informal, educational and fun. Other sessions may be designed for anyone who wishes to learn the art of wine tasting. After a light-hearted lesson in wine tasting, guests will enjoy a variety of quality wines from around Cyprus to perfect that smelling, swirling and slurping technique.

But no wine museum is complete without a wine and dine place. As from April a section of the building will be the museum’s restaurant, a place to feed your love of good food and wine. It will certainly offer the perfect accompaniment to the wine tour. The museum will also be able to offer a unique venue in the courtyard for parties. Corporate and private meetings for up to 50 could soon take place there in private rooms.

The Cyprus Wine Museum
Tel: 25 873808 or 25 873809. To make a day of it see pages 52-53

Wine of the week

Blue Bouquet, Nikoletino Winery, Arsos, Limassol region
This wine was tasted at Ilarion Hall of the Cyprus Wine Museum. A wine where the label does not do justice to the Maratheftiko and Mavro grapes vinified to create it. However, even though the wine is in a blue bottle with a misleading label (if you do not read carefully you cannot tell that this is a wine), it has a dark garnet red, intense, simple structure to the nose with vegetal, red fruit and herbaceous aromas. Full body, rather tannic on the palate, with less flavour than aroma. Excellent with roast lamb served at 18?C, the wine can age more for a couple of years.