Native dessert wine is Cyprus’ top drop
COMMANDARIA dominated the weekend’s inaugural Cyprus Wine Competition, with two brands taking the top prizes, beating off competition from 125 other Cypriot wines.
KEO’s St John Commandaria dessert wine was awarded the grand gold medal at a gala dinner on Saturday night at the Amathus Beach Hotel in Limassol, attended by President Papadopoulos, Agriculture Minister Timis Efthymiou and the head of the EU’s Wine and Alcohol unit.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, KEO’s Managing Director, Constantinos Ioannou, said that the company was “extremely proud of the Commandaria and are delighted with this award.”
“It is recognition that it’s the best Cypriot wine. It’s not the first time – St John has previously won awards in international competitions – most recently at Thessaloniki’s Sixth Annual Wine Festival earlier this month.
“This latest award is proof that KEO, the oldest, biggest and most established winemaker in Cyprus, continues to produce high-quality wines. It’s harder for a company like ours, which produces vast quantities, to compete on an equal footing with smaller, regional wineries who produce smaller quantities in a more controlled environment.”
He went on to praise the Wine Products Council, who organised the competition, saying that they performed a tremendous task. “We congratulate them in their efforts to promote Cypriot wine and to enhance its quality.”
St John Commandaria is available in supermarkets island-wide, priced at around £6.50.
The only other wine awarded a grand gold medal was the 1998 St Nicholas Commandaria, produced by ETKO.
Spokesman Themis Themistocleous said the wine group was “very happy with the award,” explaining that, “only the best grapes from 14 Commandaria villages on the southern slopes of the Troodos mountains” are chosen to make their drink.
“St Nicholas is produced with great love and care,” he said.
Participants in the competition were awarded medals in the dry, medium-dry, medium-sweet and sweet categories. Red, white and ros? wines were all tested.
Seven wines were awarded gold medals, while 29 took silver. They will be able to mention the awards on their labels.
The three-day competition aimed to provide a forum for European and international recognition, which will act as a challenge to Cyprus’ wine producers.
Stavros Ioannides, Senior Officer of the Wine Products Council, described it as the most important wine event to take place in Cyprus in the last 45 years.
“It’s a challenge to winemakers and promotes good competition. The competition itself is recognition of winemakers’ efforts and encourages them to experiment in order to produce better quality wine every year. It is an appreciation of their work.”
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