Recommended Venues
Information
Visit Ayia Napa Wining and Dining
Local Wines Old And New
Cyprus wines are among the worlds oldest, dating back to 2000 BC. Mosaics in the House of Dionysus in Pafos attest to the colourful history of the Cyprus vine.
Dionysus, the pleasure-loving god who taught Icarius how to plant vines in exchange for the hospitality he has shown him, is shown seated on a chair holding grapes.
Elsewhere, an inscription in Greek, which reads "the first wine drinkers", accompanies a mosaic depiction of two shephards quite drunk on Icarius's wine.
In fact, many renowned wines of the worl are made from vines brought to Europe from Cyprus after the Crusades.
Champagne, for example, may have originated from a choice cutting taken from Mount Olympus, in Cyprus.
Today, there is no other better known wine than the Cypriot Commandaria, a sweet, robust dessert wine that is said to be the oldest named wine in the World.
