Last week a group of Delicata grape growers went on an extensive fact finding visit to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The trip was instigated by Emmanuel Delicata who contracted Tri Star Travel to organise the 4 day event directly with the farming families who grow and supply grapes for the winemaking company. Cyprus was chosen because of its viticulture, climatic and small island winemaking similarities.

The trip had also been scheduled together with The President of Wine Producers in Cyprus; Dr. Andreas Emmanuel who helped coordinate visits to some of the country’s most prestigious wineries and their respective vineyards.

Dr. Edric Bonello from Delicata led the group of over 30 growers who during their stay visited two major wineries Sodap and Keo, as well as a number of boutique wineries, who concentrate solely on quality wine making. The wineries visited were spread out over all 4 of the country’s appellations.

The trip also included a visit to The Cyprus Wine Museum which explained in detail the wine history of Cyprus, its geography and the wine industry today.  At the museum, the growers were also advised of the 6 wine routes in Cyprus which are all government managed and well signposted to facilitate easy access for tourists who wish to drive/cycle/hike through and visit the wineries and vineyards by appointment.

The growers also visited the Government Experimentation Vineyards where the government workers were experimenting with different pruning techniques, canopy management, clones, rootstocks, pest control, crop nutrition, etc. for all varieties planted in Cyprus, saving the grower from having to experiment himself.  Growers and wine producers are allowed to go to the experimentation vineyards at any time to find the best solution for his or her situation or requirements.  The experimentation vineyards is also a place where new vines were tried and tested for the Cypriot climate and terroir.

On their return to Malta the growers praised the Delicata initiative which they found very educational and enjoyable, saying that they had been given “first class treatment all the way”.  Their overall observations were surprise as to how advanced the wine industry in Cyprus is on the whole, with regards to structure and resources. Most surprisingly however was the discovery of the high degree of importance and financial support the Cypriot government gives to the wine industry and its agro tourism business.

The growers were also astonished on how patriotic the Cypriots are with regards to their own Cyprus wine and other locally grown products. “Being offered foreign wines was just not an option” one grower said. “They are very proud of their home grown wine and cannot understand why anyone in Cyprus would want to drink or promote anything else” One leading Cypriot winemaker said “Cyprus wines play a vital role in any visiting tourist’s holiday experience and our government understands that. Can you imagine Cyprus without Cypriot wine! We get a lot of British tourists here and when they are on holiday they like drinking wine, its something exotic that they don’t normally drink at home. Cyprus wines have been around for thousands of years and are part of our heritage and our government appreciates, endorses and supports them”.

This patriotism also runs strongly through the country’s Q.W.P.S.R. system with its support of the country’s indigenous grape varieties. For example in the Akamas Laona region on the north-west coast of Cyprus, in the case of red wines at least 85% of the blend must be derived from one of the two local varieties of Maratheftiko and Ofthalmo and for white wines 85% of the blend must come from the local variety Xynisteri.

In the Vouni Panayias – Ambelitis region in the western part of the island the white wines must use Xynisteri as the basic constituent (at least 85%). Red wines may be produced in two ways: The basic constituent must be either one of the two indigenous varieties of Maratheftiko or Ofthalmo to a level of at least 85%, or the local Mavro variety (at least 60%) supplemented by over 30% of one of specified foreign varieties.

In the Pitsilia region which comprises of 32 villages all situated on the slopes of Madari, Papoutsa and Maheras mountains. For the production of white wines, Xynisteri must constitute at least 85% of the blend and for red wines either Maratheftiko or Ofthalmo must constitute at least 85% of the blend, or the blend may be made up of 60% Mavro and 30% of one of the specified foreign varieties.

Finally in the wine villages of Limassol, on the southern slopes of the Troodos mountains, 20 villages known as the Wine Villages constitute the fourth quality wine region. Here for the production of both white and red wine the permitted grape varieties are based on the same ones used in the Pitsilia region.