Top 100 red wines of Cyprus
Discover the top 100 best red wines of Cyprus as well as the best winemakers in the region. Explore the varietals of the red wines that are popular of Cyprus and the best vintages to taste in this region.
Discovering the wine region of Cyprus
Cyprus is a wine-growing island in the eastern Turkey/mediterranean">Mediterranean, located 80 km from the Southern coast of Turkey and a little further from the western coast of Syria. Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean. It measures 140 miles (225 km) from east to west and about a third of that distance from North to south.
The Cypriot wine industry was at its peak in the Middle Ages and has seen a steady and progressive decline over the following centuries.
The location of the island once made it a useful port of call for voyages from Greece and Italy to Egypt and the Levant. Cyprus was of great use to medieval merchants and traders. Not only did the island's wine find markets abroad, especially in southern Europe, but the ships that exported the wines were a market in their own right.
The downside is that Cyprus was not only useful as a Trading post.
It was also desirable as a strategic military stronghold. Over the millennia, the Greeks, Romans, Assyrians, Egyptians, Persians and Venetians ruled the island. Later, the Ottoman and British empires added Cyprus to their conquered lands. Several hundred years later Madeira served the merchants and armies of the Eastern Atlantic in the same way.
Discover the grape variety: Carignan
Mainly cultivated in the Languedoc region, carignan originates from Spain. Because of its very resistant branches, it is often called hardwood. Its bunches are quite large. They are compact and winged with a lignified stalk. The berries are spherical in shape and take on a bluish-black colour. Carignan has a total of 25 approved clones, the best known of which are 274, 65 and 9. The carignan buds at the beginning of June and is protected from spring frosts. It does not reach maturity until the third period. Also, this grape variety needs warmth and sunshine. It appreciates dry and not very fertile soils. Carignan vines can live for more than 100 years. Those that are more than 30 years old produce a better wine. This wine is well coloured. It is generous and powerful at the same time. Pepper, cherry, blackberry, banana, raspberry, almond, prune and violet are some of the aromas that this grape variety gives off.
Food and wine pairing with a red wine of Cyprus
red wines from the region of Cyprus go well with generally quite well with dishes of beef, lamb or game (deer, venison) such as recipes of beef stew, traditional tunisian couscous or duck with vanilla (reunion island).
Organoleptic analysis of red wine of Cyprus
On the nose in the region of Cyprus often reveals types of flavors of cherry, oaky or blackberry and sometimes also flavors of tobacco, black cherries or cranberry.
