Stellar Commandaria leads the 8th Cyprus Wine Awards

On April 25th, Cyprus Wine Sector hosted it’s 2015 Annual Award ceremony celebrating Cyprus Wine appreciation and honoring efforts of Cyprus Winemakers in special remembrance of Akis Zambartas. Celebrated at the Paticchion Museum in Limassol, the Cyprus Wine Awards marked a moment of reconciliation for the sector in an evening that culminates a Wine month full of activities. The ceremony which also closed 3 days of the 8th Cyprus wine competition, representing the official national quality evaluation for Cyprus Wine and led by the international panel of judges invited by the department of Agriculture. The Cyprus Wine Awards seem to highlight a growing commitment from wineries to Commandaria, it also set a challenge to the judges which decided not to award bronze in favour of high number of wines qualifying for silver. With a tally of a total of 3 grand golds, 16 golds and 24 silver medals awarded, the Commandaria Wines swept top awards, seemingly seducing the judging panel and confirming its good health among the 139 wines labels that participated in the 10 categories of the 8th Cyprus Wine competition.

The special distinction for vinification of top local varieties Xynisteri and Marathetiko went to Ezousa Winery, while for Commandaria, it was Keo 1984 Commandaria which captured the distinction. The 2015 Cyprus Wine Competition Awards and Medals list goes as follow: Grand Gold: Commandaria Wine – St.John 1984 from Keo Winery Commandaria Wine – Centurion 2000 from Etko Winery Commandaria Wine – Alasia 2004 from Loel Winery

Read On – Results 2015 – Cyprus Wine 8th Competition

All celebration of events and the ceremony were held in remembrance of winemaker Akis Zambartas

Fill the gap, taste the wine and earn a medal

Limassol Municipality steps forward in support of the 1st Cyprus Wine Competition of a new Era.

In a statement, the Limassol municipality acknowledged that it is the organization’s unique Wine Competition taking place in Cyprus, in accordance with Regulation tendering wine of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin, OIV) and under the patronage of the OIV

Two years since the Cyprus Wine Products Council was sent into inoperability by it’s last board members, finally the Cyprus Winemaker Association has sought out the implication of various entities in order to re-establish the annual judging so well executed by the council in it’s last editions.

An enormous gap to fill, which all entities involved will have to manage with the help of Cyprus Enologists  the Cyprus Association of Sommeliers whose main objectives will be to return part of the credibility lost, not so much in the wines but in a competition which had higher aims.

The seven-member jury composed of oenologists and other experts from Cyprus and abroad, will award 30% of the presented samples, in a 3 day competition to be helo in Limassol from the 4th until the 7th of June and extended awards will rank according to Grand Gold, Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals. Special awards will be given also to the wine categories such as  Xynisteri, Maratheftiko and a Commandaria.

The official announcement of the results and the presentation of diplomas will be held in Limassol, in a special event to award the late afternoon on Saturday June 7, 2014 at the Cultural Center Panos Solomonides.

The event, called symbolic “Open Doors”, the public will have the opportunity, buying a glass of wine and taste award-winning wines and chat with winemakers and experts of the Competition.

Decanter Awards Silver Lining for Cyprus Wine with Commandaria

The silver lining at the Decanter Awards 2013 for Cyprus Wine participation

The results are in,  Decanter Annual Awards of 2013 have been discerned and Cyprus Wines participating may have been the highest in recent years, if it hadn’t been for some significant wineries not participating among the 23 wines being judged in this 2013 edition.  Nonetheless, this year’s participating wines  do carry the spirit for Cyprus Wines and the constancy in the pursuit of further excellence.  Congratulations to the new wineries participating and to Sodap and 2002 vintage of St. Barnabas Commandaria – still carrying the flag for the absolute taste of Cyprus in Wine.

Below you may find a summary of the participating wines and wineries.

Silver	Bronze	Commended
Sodap Saint Barnabas 2002	Aes Ambelis Aes Ambelis Omiros 2010	Aes Ambelis Ektor 2010
	K&K Vasilikon Winery Ayios Onoufrios 2010	Aes Ambelis Xinisteri-Semillon 2012
	K&K Vasilikon Winery Methy 2009	Makkas Winery Gold, Chardonnay 2011
	Prophet Elias Winery Gerolemo Muscat 2012	Makkas Winery Gold, Merlot 2010
	Sodap Kamanterena Xynisteri 2012	Makkas Winery Gold, Rodostafylo 2012
	Sodap Stroumbeli Maratheftiko Rosé 2012	Makkas Winery Syrah 2010
	The Anama Concept Anama 2010	Prophet Elias Winery Gerolemo Riesling 2012
		Prophet Elias Winery Gerolemo Roze Maratheftiko 2012
		Sodap Kamanterena Rhine Riesling 2012
		Sodap Mountain Vines Semillon 2012
		Sodap Mountain Vines, Cabernet Sauvignon-Maratheftiko 2009
		Sodap Stroumbeli Chardonnay 2012
		Sodap Stroumbeli Shiraz 2009
		The Anama Concept Anama 2009
		Vouni Panayia Winery Barba Yiannis 2009

Mondial du Rosé, a natural habitat for Maratheftiko

Honor to Rosés and honor to the Mondial du Rosé competition with Cyprus Wine.

Recent participation of Sodap Wines in this 10th edition of the international competition Le Mondial du Rosé evokes not only the constancy of a Rosé winemaking in Cyprus but also the natural adequacy which the endemic Maratheftiko has for making splendid rosés. The question remains as to why there aren’t more wineries participating in this annual event organised by the French Union of Oenologues.

Rosé owes this achievement to the ambition and determination of winegrowers and producers to master the highly complex technical and wine-making specifics these wines require.

Indeed, a category of wines that has legitimately outgrown clichés of summer  and picture perfect vacation wines. It is thus that not only we celebrate the Silver Medal for Stroumbeli Maratheftiko Rosé but also our most sincere congratulations to the organisers for reaching such a significant milestone.

OIV rules apply to the Cyprus Wine Competition

Cyprus Wine Competition adheres to the OIV rules for judging and  the process can strongly impact  judges unfamiliar with the strict judging protocol.

Judging under OIV rules in Cyprus, work with more feel

If the judging competitions risks resembling a grammar school dream class (not the case above), achieving consensus can in some cases provoke for discussions and re-tasting wines until final note is awarded, dexterity here to be played by the judge presiding the panel.

The 2012 juding in Cyprus presided for the third consecutive year by Rowald Hepp, included testimonial of exception in the name of Tom Cannavan as participating judge can also  attests that the OIV rules can be needlessly strict, especially in the case of those categories where the set of participating wines is extremely reduced.

Although we’re less optimistic about the OIV reviewing it’s rules by the next edition of the Cyprus Wine Competition, we do count that the same high level of performance and world class judging will be performed under the OIV rules as in the past editions.

The upcoming edition of the 2013 Cyprus Wine Competition will be celebrated in Cyprus during the last week of May, from the 28th until the 31st of May, 2013 in Cyprus.

2012 Judging panel was composed of 9 judges: Miroslav Kalinic, Vasos Manoli, Denis Rudenko, Tamas Oroszlan,Maria Tzitzi, David Seijas, Jean Luc Berger, and Tom Cannavan presided by Rowald Hepp.