Drinking in Cyprus

Tradionally Cypriots drink only as accompaniment to food, and prefer brandy or raki; inebriated north European louts staggering down the streets are apt to offend local sensibilities in effher community.

Owing to near-ideal climate and soils, Cypriot experience in wine-making stretches far back into antiquity, and the tradition has been carried on with pride -indeed wine- drinking can be one of the highlights of a vacation here, though with a few exceptions the vintages aren't yet up to French, Italian or even Greek quality. The industry is based almost entirely in the South, and largely dominated by four major wineries headquartered in Limassol: KEO, ETKO, LOEL and SODAP. However, there are also a number of independent microwineries across the island whose products are usually superior.

Cyprus Trade Centre booklets have listed close on fifty labels of wine, sherry and brandy, quite a total for a medium-sized island, with more being added slowly as the result of research and new varietal planting. You would have to be a pretty dedicated toper to get through ali of them during a short stay, so the evaluations below should give you a head start.

Arsinoe is a very dry white offering from SODAP, while Danae (also SODAP) is slightly less dry, light white, though by no means fruity or sweet. LOEL's Palomino is a dry white, smoky in colour and taste; ETKO's White Lady is another contender in the dry-white market. Bellapais (KEO), a medium-dry, light sparkling wine a bit like Portuguese vinho verde, comes in white and rose versions. Afrodhite (KEO), an accept- able medium-dry cheap white, and LOEL's Saint Hilarion, are about as sweet as you'd want to drink with food; Saint Panteleimon (KEO), essentially a dessert or mixer white, is too sugary for most tastes.

Sodha is the lingua franca for plain soda water -useful for making wine spritzers of those sweeter varieties. KEO's Rosella is a very dry, dark rose; the same company makes Othello, a full- bodied red not unlike a Cabernet Sauvi- gnon. Hermes is for those who like a rough, dry red, while ETKO's Semeli is a bit more refined. LOEL:s Mediterranean, made from actual Cabernet, isn't at all bad as a mid- range product.
Every major vintner (KEO and SODAP are reckoned the best) has a version of Commandaria, a red dessert wine related to Madeira, with an interesting pedigree going back to antiquity. Cyprus's first (1990) AOC wine, it's produced by just fourteen villages in the Umassol foothills, and made largely from white Xynisteri grapes, with dark Mavro for colour and balance. These are sun-dried for a week, part-fermented, and then sent down the hill to major wineries, who age it for a minimum of two years in oak barrels and then fortify it to 15 percent alcohol.

Each major label also produces dry, medium and sweet cream sherries, most famous of these being ETKO's Emva line. However, following objections from Spain, all the Cypriot players are going to have to call it something else, as "sherry" is now a protected AOC of the Jerez region.

In the Troodhos foothill villages, it's worth asking for the local bulk wine: cheaper, often very good (if not decanted plonk from tetra-pak cartons) and sold in half- or full-litre measures.

Amongst microwineries, the Khrysor- royiatissa monastery bottles an excellent dry white, Ayios Andronicos, and a pale red, Ayios Elias. Most wine from the Fikardos winery in Mesoyi is worthwhile, though not easily available outside of Pafos district. Their products include the Amaithia Xynisteri, a very crisp but easy-drinking white, the Ayia lrini white, the Ravanti red from Mataro grapes, and a Cabernet Sauvignon. Other proven products to keep a lookout for include Pampella rose and Alina white, from Vouni in Panayfa; Agravani and Ambelidha, two organic wines from Oekologiki Oenote- chnia in Ayios Amvrosios village; Ayios Onoufiros, a dry blended red from Vasilikon in Kathikas; Cava Rotaki, from the Linos winery; anything from Perati, in the Limassol foothills; the Yiaskouris blended red or Shiraz from the eponymous winery in Pakhna; the Domaine Nicolaides rose, from Anoyira; and the Kilani Village red or white, from the Ayia Mavri winery. Among more recently estab- lished players, the Domaine Vlassides (Kilani) Shiraz and Cabemets are excellent, while almost anything from the Kyperounda, Vasa and Tsiakkas wineries is worthwhile.

Beer

In the South, Carlsberg is currently the best- selling locally brewed beer, available in smail 333ml or large 645ml bottles at 4.6 percent; the same brewery makes an "Ice" variety, worth getting but availabie in supermarkets only. Rival KEO's pilsener, along with its sub- label Leon, comes in the same sizes and alcohol strengths, though KEO in particular is dismissed as watery and insubstantial. In North Cyprus, your choices are the Turkish mainland Efes label; Gold Fassl, an Austrian lager made locally under licence; or the strong (5.2 percent) local pilsener, Altlnada. There is now quite a variety of imported beers on both sides of the border, especially at theme pubs in Ayia Napa and Pafos.