Cypriot Wines

Cyprus and wine making have a long history together, the country cultivating grape vine for thousands of years, dating back to at least 2300BC. The evidence has been found on a trading ship-wreck discovered in 1999. This ship was believed to be going from Greece to Egypt and was carrying about 2,500 amphorae of Cypriot wine.

Myhtologically, in the house of Dionysus, God of wine, men sang and drank wine through the night. Dionysus taught Ikarios how to make wine, and Ikarios was the first mortal to know the heady secret.

During the Lusignan occupation (12th to 14th Century) Cyprus was very close to French nobility, who had a passion for wine and Philip Augustus started a wine tasting competition in the 13th century in Cyprus.