Rolandis calls for more quality wine

COMMERCE Minister Nicos Rolandis yesterday said Cyprus should begin to market quality wines with labels specifying geographical origin.

Speaking during a meeting with wine makers yesterday, Rolandis said he believed a solution to the problem of grape over-production could be found in this way.

Speaking to representatives of Keo, Etko, Sodap and Loel, Rolandis said there was no reason Cyprus should not adopt the practice, “already used in Australia, South Africa, South America, Greece and California.”

He said that in this way future production could be continued only on profitable wines.

“There has never been a strategic plan on the wine issue and we let other countries get ahead, but logically they should have been behind because Cyprus has a history, not of centuries but of millennia in the wine making sector. It is really insulting to see overseas hotel and restaurant menus with wines from all over the world but not from Cyprus.”

Rolandis also said that only 10 per cent of wine grapes were currently used for bottled wines and that this should rise to 50 per cent over the next 15 to 20 years.

“When we reach 50 per cent and the rest remains for juice, we will be in a good position,” he said.

Rolandis said that while the government had no illusions that the industry could be turned around from one day to the next, “Greece, for example, in 15 years managed to achieve a lot in the wine sector.”