The cultivation of vines for dessert fruit and wine is relatively recent, the grape first having been cultivated in the Black Sea area around 8,000 years ago. From there it spread slowly south-eastwards to Mesopotamia, Syria and Egypt, from where it travelled across the Mediterranean to Greece, on to Italy, and so on. 4,000 years ago settlers from the mainland coast to the east came to Cyprus and, although there is no firm evidence to prove it, it is virtually certain they would have brought their wine-producing vines with them. When the Greeks settled in Cyprus around 1200 B.C., it is likely they would have found wine already here, but of a very different style to the wines they were accustomed to. Thus, it is likely that there has been a wine industry in Cyprus continuously longer than anywhere else in the world.

Facts are supported by legend and ancient history. The Song of Solomon praises Cyprus wines. In 800 B.C., Hesiodos described the making of Cyprus wines. The Greek poet Euripides writes of vast pilgrimages to Cyprus to taste the wine, or as it was then known "Cyprus Nama". Legend has it that the first mortal to be taught to make wine was Ikarios, whose teacher was Dionysos, the god of wine himself. The scene is, in fact, depicted in a mosaic in the House of Dionysos at Pafos in the Pafos Archaeological Park where other vinous scenes are also to be viewed. As well as this, fascinating archaeological evidence of vine culture and winemaking is to be seen in museums and other places.

Because of problems with sealing vessels to protect the wine from oxidisation from the air, most early wines would have been sweet and the tradition of such wines in Cyprus was born. Sweet wines not only oxidise more slowly, but they travel better than dry wines. So callers to the Cyprus of old would have stocked their boats with its sweet wines. Little historical evidence exists to describe the wines of Cyprus between the Greco-Roman periods and the Middle ages, when the island endured drought, pestilence and regular wars, invasions and incursions. In the 11th century, when the Crusades commenced, from the sojourns here of Richard the Lionheart and those of the various Orders of Knights, came the generic description of the sweet wines of Cyprus: "Commandaria".

In 1363 no less than five Kings met with the Mayor of London, in the building that today houses the Vintners' Society, to talk of various matters, such as the Crusades and wine. The wines served were in fact from Cyprus and were highly praised. Writers, priests, explorers, soldiers and rulers delighted in the Cyprus "sweeties"; bought them, shipped them, drank them. Their renown spread throughout the civilised world. But for Cyprus, invasion followed invasion. Three hundred years of Lusignan rule, ending in 1489, were followed by the Venetians (1489-1571), The Ottomans invaded in 1571 and stayed until 1878, when they ceded the island to Britain. In all this period litttle was done to help the vine-growers, especially under the Turks, who extracted iniquitous triple taxes from them and the wine-makers. Sadly, the Cyprus wines had waned and lost their fame. Then the 19th Century saw the birth of the modern wine industry. The House of Haggipavlu was founded in 1844, when the company exported wine in barrels all over the eastern Mediterranean.

In 1893, Haggipavlu, by then making spirits as well as wines, built the first modern winery, in Zanatzia in the Lemesos district, with proper presses and fermentation tanks of stone. ETKO, which is part of the Haggipavlu group of companies is now a public company. Around the same time, an English family, the Chaplins, built a large wine-making plant at Pera Pedi, just below Platres and started making wine in fairly large quantities. In 1927, KEO Ltd. was formed and bought the Pera Pedi winery from the Chaplins. The third of the "Big Four", LOEL formed in 1943, is a public company which was to develop big business with the countries of the Eastern Bloc. The fourth company, SODAP is also a co-operative, founded in 1947 by the vinegrowers themselves. These "Big Four" Cypriot companies met the needs of the world - fortified wines for Northern Europe, from the 1940' s onwards, bulk table wines for the partygoers of the 1960's and all kinds of grape products for markets all over the world.

In the early 1980's the Cyprus government encouraged small enterprises to establish and operate wineries of 50,000 to 300,000 bottles-a-year capacity, in the hill villages of the grape growing regions. The first of these was at Chrysorrogiatissa Monastery in the Pafos District. Today there are more than 20 registered regional wineries. Their contribution to the diversification of style and development of new wines has been immense. Each year brings advances in quality and the introduction of exciting new wines using local as well as famous international varieties of grapes. During this time the Big Four have also been very active. They have developed new vineyards, of their own and through purchase. They have planted hundreds of thousands of new vines of well known varieties and re-discovered old Cyprus types. They have built new or restored old wineries in the hills, and enhanced their plants in Lemesos. Their laboratories have researched new production techniques and their oenologists have introduced new styles and new brands. The combined talents of the large companies and the smaller regional wineries are giving the Cyprus industry bright prospects for the future, especially when the country joins the European Union in the near future.

*This article is part of a document published by Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO)