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 How many of us have heard about the TAVERNA Restaurant at Hotel Ashok around the late 80's and early 90's? It was a fabulous restaurant serving Taster’s Menu with Cyprus wines somewhere at around Rs. 500 (or some such ridiculously low prices) a bottle. The multi course meal could never be finished- there were too many courses though delicious. The place used to rock! There used to be lines of people waiting at times. I remember having great time with friends since I belonged to a Rotary Club that used to have the weekly meetings at the hotel and we frequented the friendly restaurant.
Pity it was shut down! I was told by H.E. Demetrios Theophylactou, High Commissioner of Cyprus who hosted a magnificent wine tasting at the Greek Embassy last Friday, that it was one of the earlier wine-passionate High Commissioners who had taken the initiative. And what initiative it was! If that restaurant had carried on, today we might be drinking a lot of Cyprus wines in India!
In any case, it is commendable that His Excellency collaborated with his friend, H.E. Mr. Panos Kalogeropoulos, Ambassador of Greece, who offered the venue for him to host an evening of tasting wines from Cyprus. It was a very enjoyable evening with 10 wines and lots of local food.
Commandaria-signature wine of Cyprus
“Of all the island’s products, Commandaria is the best. It is an exceptional wine. I have drunk wine that is more than 30 years old here and it has a very pleasant taste, exquisite colour, and it was so thick that it stuck to the walls of the glass. You could get hold of even older Commandaria, up to 100 years old.” These are not the words of the High Commissioner but writings of an Italian writer in the 16th century who travelled through the country.
While welcoming the invitees, he did stress that ‘Commandaria, a special dessert wine, is believed to be the oldest wine in the world. It dates back to the time of the ancient Greeks, where it was a popular drink at festivals. During the crusades, it was served at the 12th century wedding of King Richard the Lionheart in the town of Limassol, where the King described it as "the wine of kings and the king of wines".
It is an amber-coloured sweet wine made from a blend of indigenous red grape Mavro and white grape Xinisteri, fermented after sun-drying them. It represents an ancient wine style documented in Cyprus back to 800 BC and has the distinction of being the world's oldest named wine still in production.
The High Commissioner said Commandaria was being used, including for communion, in addition to being served as a very distinct and tasteful after-dinner sweet dessert wine. It was indeed the preferred dessert wine of the Greek Ambassador- for good reasons, he said. He went on to explain that Zivania, the Cyprus ‘grappa’, was quite reputable for its great quality, while some new variants like the Rośe were quickly becoming very popular. These were available for tasting after his talk.
The High Commissioner referred to the significance of wine making in his country. He said wine making had a long history in Cyprus. Kyperounda Winery (Limassol), Vasilikon Winery in Kathika and Ayia Mavri (formerly Kilani) Winery participated in the tasting whereas Sodap, the biggest co-operative in Cyprus had sent the Commandaria and Zivania.
Along with the wines, a variety of special Cyprus foods that usually accompany wine tasting, were presented, including the famous halloumi cheese-unripened, semi hard and brined, well-known worldwide for its unique quality and flavour. A wide variety of Cypriot nuts were laid out generously as munchies. Extra virgin olive oil, as well as select Cyprus olives were also offered.
Cyprus has the distinction of having vineyard areas as high as at an
altitude of 1100-1400 m or even more and thus offers cool climate grape
varieties; an obvious advantage for them with the growing global warming.
For instance, one of the wineries represented, Kyperounda Winery is situated
in the Kyperounta village in Limassol region. The award winning winery
opened in 1998. It has 4 hA vineyards which are the highest in Europe
at 1400 meters altitude, ostensibly the highest vineyard in the world
for Chardonnay (unverified report).
Wines for the evening were presented by Sommelier Magan and his colleague,
Gagan Sharma WSET Dip. It was a very palatable and educational evening
that needs to be repeated  frequently-
as the resources allow the Cyprus High Commissioner who would ‘sow
the seeds today that may bring fruit tomorrow’. This is a continual
process that needs to be structured. But kudos to him for spearheading
a tasting that was long overdue and would certainly not have been
easy to organise.
From Indian Wine Academy, Jai Ho (Cheers!) to him for bringing gastronomical Cyprus to Delhi- via Greece. Who knows Taverna Restaurant may yet be back for a second innings in another avatar with a much longer stay at the crease with the Cypriot gastronomy!
Subhash Arora
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