HISTORY ETHNOGRAPHY NATURE WINE-MAKING SITE MAP
Selected and rare materials, excerpts and observations from ancient, medieval and contemporary authors, travelers and researchers about Cyprus.
 
 
 
 
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SIR SAMUEL WHITE BAKER
CYPRUS AS I SAW IT IN 1879
page 295

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instead of the colour becoming paler by great age,2 it deepens to an extraordinary degree. The new wine is the ordinary tint of sherry, but it gradually* becomes darker, until after forty or fifty years it is almost black, with the syrup-like consistence of new* honey. Wine of this age and quality is muchi esteemed, and is worth a fancy price. I was pre-l sented with several bottles of the famous old Cyprus growths of commanderia, morocanella, and muscadine,! by the kindness of Mr. Lanites, who is largely inter-4 ested in the trade at Limasol. The old commanderiaJ-{ was sufficiently sweet to occasion a roughness in thei throat, and each quality was far too luscious for? English taste, but might have been agreeable toi sip like Tokay, by soaking a sponge biscuit. Thed utterly rude method of producing native wines,, which can scarcely be dignified by the term " manu-| facture, " is a sufficient explanation of their inferiori1 quality, but at the same time it is a proof of the greati wine-producing power of Cyprus, where, in spite oi ignorance and neglect, an extensive commerce has^i been established, which adds materially to the revenue; of the island. If these badly-made wines havei founded an important trade, there is every reason) to expect a corresponding extension when scientifici: principles shall have resulted in a superior quality. 1 The black wines receive even less care than the commanderia ; the grapes are trodden, and are thrown' into receptacles to ferment, together with the skins andi stalks. This bruised mass, after lying a certain time! exposed to fermentation, is pressed, and the muddy: juice is stowed in the large tarred jars to ripen foi a few months, which, according to Cyprian taste, arJ sufficient to prepare it for consumption. The stalks

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