Grape expectations
With a growing number of boutique wineries offering decent bottles, are a bunch of young guns going to bring about a full-bodied return to the glory days of Cyprus’ wine industry?
Movie director Francis Ford Coppola, Sting, Olivia Newton John, actor Sam Neill do it, in company with Cliff Richard, Gerard Depardieu and golfer Nick Faldo. These are just a few of a growing band of celebs who, after having sniffed the grape, liked it so much they went out and bought their own vineyards.
The saying goes, if you want to make a small fortune out of wine, you need to start out with a large fortune, and the above mentioned notables no doubt had a few hundred thousand pounds lying around in order to realise their dream of owning a winery, first planting vines, then being able to take the time needed (sometimes years) before seeing a return on their investment. Even then, young vines rarely produce fruit of the standard needed to bring in the big bucks.
A decade ago, the culture of wine drinking in Cyprus still very much centered around taverna owners proffering tourists carafes of liquids, most of which had merrily matured in the family bath tub.
Mercifully things have radically changed, and local winemakers who are professionals now have their work cut out just to keep abreast of what’s going on, not only on the highly technical side, there’s also sheer hard graft involved, starting with the harvesting of the grapes. At this point, big decisions have to made as to whether to leave them longer on the vine for riper tannins. Next it’s keen observation of the sorting process, what press is to be used, how warm or cold, how long the fermentation should be, what yeast would be best. Whether the wine will be left on its ‘lees’ to add extra flavour, then the decision has to made about the use of malolactic fermentation to soften the acids. Factor in a good working knowledge of refrigeration, an essential for any winemaker to be able to control the rate of fermentation, and exact level of extraction of flavour from the grapes.
As if that lot wasn’t enough to worry about, they also need to fully embrace the many different nuances of oak barrels to finish the fermentation, be clued up in the use of plastics and pH control, promote and sell the wines in what has become an increasingly competitive market.
“A new generation of winemakers was introduced at the latest Cyprus wine competition. Young winemakers, boutique wines and improving standards are all signs of a wine industry on the move. Tasting the wines these wineries produce, I am certain of a full-bodied revival of Cyprus’ ancient winemaking fortunes,” states Cyprus Mail wine expert George Kassianos.
Angelos Tsangarides and Michalis Constantinides are two young men who have embraced these challenges and both are well on their way to becoming key players in what is now called the boutique or garagist market – they belong to a growing band of new small growers who have started a mini revolution when it comes to the set traditions and methodology associated with Cypriot winemaking.
So how exactly have things changed? “I have far superior equipment, a decade ago there were few independent wine makers, only the big factories were using the grape harvest. What I am doing differently is I see the winery as a business and as a business it has to run perfectly, offer quality value for money and, above all, produce a consistently good product,” Tsangarides said.
“I know how to make wine, but you really can only make good quality wine if you have your own grapes – 90 per cent of the grapes that make up my wines are grown by me. All year I tend the vines, care for them throughout the seasons and know when to pick them, that’s critical. I don’t have a lorry, arrive at my winery with a ton of someone else’s grapes that I don’t know their provenance, what conditions they were kept in when they were picked. My award for the Mattaro (one of the wineries prodicts) was purely due to me weaning those grapes like a baby – I cultivated them, knew what and when to do the things that made them special.”
Both men are more than open to experimentation and new ideas, but why on earth would they give up well paid jobs with secure futures and pension to go off, build a winery and become vintners.
“There have been some days when I wonder what I am doing, why all this hard work and effort and then I win a gold at a major competition and that makes it all seem worthwhile – this is an award from people who know and respect wine. That alone is reward enough for all the time I have put into the winery,” Tsangarides said.
It was not his initial plant though: “I left school and after the army, went to the UK to study business and accountancy, there followed another term in the USA where I learnt about marketing and of course became familiar with some very good West Coast wines. My father was the one who had always encouraged me to appreciate wine, having, in his day, being one of the island’s biggest producers of grapes, and through him I learnt the basic craft of winemaking, and the all important husbandry of vines. When I returned home to Paphos I worked as an accountant until three years ago when, in partnership with my sister Loukia, we started building the winery in the village of Lemona,” he said.
When they set out with a mission to produce wines of outstanding quality, Angelos and his sister seem to have achieved a big part of that by building their attractively situated winery. Local stone has been used to create this winery and the character of the building reflects both the family’s love of the traditional and the fact that they have fully embraced the latest technology.
The winery has been in operation since 2005. And, remarkably over such a short time, Tsangarides wines have enchanted several wine buffs and won medals at the 2nd Cyprus Wines competition. They are now moving on to create wines aged in oak barrels.
“We have done everything from scratch so it’s been a huge commitment both in time and money, both of us work and will continue to work seven days a week from dawn to dusk, that’s just the nature of the business. Wine is a living thing needing constant attention – the big priority has been, and always will be, the making of and caring for our wines,” Angelos said.
And for now that is all he has time for. “I have little or no time to think about marriage at least not at the moment, my vines are my babies and they are demanding enough, and as I work a 17 hour day seven days a week – I doubt if any woman is going to put up with that sort of pressure. Of course in the future I will hope to meet someone who has the same love of wine as I do but I am still looking!”
The signs are good for Tsangarides as the brother and sister team have just hung the first of their awards. Visitors will now be able to see ‘Gold’ from judges at the second Cyprus wine competition in spring of this year for their Tsangarides Mattaro 2005 and Cabarenet sauvignon.
Constantinides 33 comes from the village of Kannaviou and also has a strong family history of winemaking. His grandfather cultivated vines and made wine as a hobby along with some notable vintages of full throttle Zivania. Constantinides has also built his own winery, which stands just off the side of the road as you enter the village.
Anyone who believes our young men and women are a bunch of easy option careerists who always opt to play safe with steady bank jobs and secure government appointments will be heartened to know that there are still people around like Constantinides who gave up a well paid government position to realise his dream.
But does he have any regrets? “Of course, a regular salary without responsibility is something that one got used to, you did your job, got paid for it and that was that.
“I wanted more from my life an
d knew I had to have money to do what I wanted so the plan was to study in Athens as a chemical engineer, come back to Cyprus and work at my profession for a few years and save as a much as I could, while studying hard with established winemakers here in Cyprus. I will always be grateful to Andreas, the owner of the Panagia winery, who generously gave his time and experience, teaching me all he knew about winemaking. That’s one of the good things about this business, people in it are passionate about wine, at least the people who make good wine are, and they will happily help each other. In the same way I can go to Tsangarides if I have a problem and vice versa.
“Mind you, the road getting here has been very tough, I would rise at 3am in the village, go out and check my vines then, at 5am I would drive to Nicosia for my government job, then drive back every afternoon. It cost me £25 in petrol for the daily round trip. Winemaking is never instant, I had to slowly develop my vines, keep a salary coming in and, importantly, be there to check everything was okay both morning and night.
“Now I have only one job and that is to keep making good wine and hopefully introduce these new breed of wines to the public.”
He is justifiably proud of his efforts, not only in the construction of the building that houses the Ezousa winery but also of his visitor centre and tasting area.
Constantinides has also upset the established ‘wine barrel’ having garnered silver at the first Cyprus National wine competition in 2006 for his Ezousa Xinisteri (dry white).
Both men are no longer considered upstarts by their pier group and neither is resting on their vines – both have high hopes for more international accolades in the near future. “Both of us make different wine, but in each of our ways we strive for quality, what we and others like us who entered into the boutique style of winery need is local support. Without this, then we will have big problems, there is enough of a market for everyone to make a living from making quality wine, it’s now a question of letting people know about us and allowing them to sample what we have to offer,” Constantinides said.
Visitor centres within these wineries have become even more important as few of these young wines will be seen displayed on supermarket shelves, that’s because the policy of having companies pay for their products to be on the shelf of a supermarket is not a feasible option for smaller wineries. This is just one of the many tricks of the modern retailing jungle, a policy known as ‘buying a listing’ and is one that the big brand boys who produce in bulk and have deeper pockets can more easily negotiate. Make a point of regularly visiting your local Cava or wine merchant, where all these small and perfectly formed brands can be purchased.
We should all really consider ourselves fortunate to have this new breed of wineries, especially now, when there is more and more pressure for the globalisation of wine, which inevitably means family ties and tradition go by the board. Here in Cyprus we should be proud to be described as part of a fast vanishing world, where wine making is still authentic, personal, local, human and where it is identified with place of origin not brand, where it’s done for pride of craft not pure profit.
Ezousa Winery
Kannaviou, Paphos. Opening hours 9am-1pm and 3pm-6pm. Tel: 70008844 or 99 415909, email [email protected]
Tsangarides Winery
Lemona Village, Paphos. Opening hours Saturday and Sunday 9am-6pm or during the week by appointment. Tel: 26 722777 or 99 459232, email [email protected]
THE WINES
By George Kassianos
2005 Tsangarides Winery Mataro, Pafos Region, Alcohol Volume 14.2%
I tasted this wine at Lazy Bull restaurant when the proprietor offered to me a glass with my meal. Impressed, this warm-weather red wine grape can turn barrel for six months in the winery’s underground cellar for maturing. A dark-ruby red colour with deep and intense black fruit aroma, cassis, with forward scents of herbs – lavender, mint and tarragon. Full, ripe fruit built on sturdy structure into pleasant medium weight wined with cherry and berry flavours. Full, juicy fruit flavour punches through a curtain of tannins, it’s so fruity and complex that it’s a delight right now – especially wit a tannin wiping T-bone on the table – a specialty of the tasting venue. Cellar potential, a couple of years. Serve at 16?-18?C with barbecue or roast meats, root vegetables and mushrooms, dark fowl such as duck and turkey.
2005 Tsangarides Winery Cabernet Sauvignon m Pafos Region, Alcohol Volume 14.2%
The noble grape of Cabernet Sauvignon is aged in French oak barrels and is kept for six months in the underground cellar of the winery for maturity. It has a clear, dark ruby colour, spicy oak and black fruit aromas, cassis and herbs – mint and lavender- and at the background vanilla and dark chocolate. Good acidic structure and firm but approachable tannins, flavours follow the nose and add pleasant earthy leather scents. Drinking very well now, not all closed, but the tannins and fruit suggest a long life ahead for a Cypriot wine. Served at 18?C, I tasted this Cabernet with lamb roasted with herbs. Simply prepared meat – lamb, beef pork, game and game birds – match well. Grilling, braising and roasting are cooking techniques that lend themselves to Cabernets. Try also with grilled steak with root vegetables and a potato galette, or lasagna with sweet Italian sausage. Rich sauces with cream or cheese help smooth out the wine’s tannins.
2003 Metharme, Ezousa Winery, Pafos Regional, Alcohol Volume 13%
Metharme was the daughter of Pygmalion and Galateia as well as the mother of Kinyras, the founder and first king of Paphos. It is also one of the two flagships wines of Ezousa winery, made exclusively from the Maratheftiko grape. Clear cherry red fragrant pepper and sweet spicy oak frame ripe black fruit jam aromas. They are intense with lots of earthy, forest floor, tree-bark scents that may reflect oak or Maratheftiko grapes or both. Medium to full structure flavour, apple-skin and mixed barriers over firm acidity and ample but accessible tannins. At 17?C this wine is ideal with rabbit stifado, pork spare ribs and beef or veal stew, salami or cured ham and Prosciutto, aged and creamy cheese.
2005 Aenos, Ezousa Winery, Pafos Regional, Alcohol Volume 14%
From the noble variety of Cabernet Sauvignon this wine has a clear ruby colour and is still full of youth. You can detect straightforward ripe fruity aromas, black-cherry jam and cooking apples and a definite touch of mint. Body wise, it is full with juicy tart cherry, clean with well balanced fresh fruit acidity, along with round tannins but with a slight bitterness on the aftertaste. At 17?C this wine was excellent with sirloin steak with braised leeks in red wine sauce, roast rack of lamb and mint sauce, pasta in herb and cream sauce as well as semi-hard cheese.
