A bow to Commandaria

Monday, January 7, 10 o’clock in the evening. It is my name day and I am at home with my friend Chary, an acknowledged wine expert and his lovely partner Sofia. After having two excellent red wines, we decide to move quickly to the dessert, a chosen Vintage Port of 2000 from a first-class wine maker.

Vintage Port is the top of Ports, the greatest expression of this worldwide renowned wine. These wines, which constitute a very small part of the total production, are made only in the best years from the best vineyards of each wine maker, they are left to age for two years in barrels and then bottled. After 15-20 years in the bottle, they mellow, lose their aggressiveness and develop an elaborated aroma and a harmonious taste. The best Vintage Port can age for 50 years and more. Their price, of course, is the highest of all.

Our own port had such a price, €52. I open the high-alcohol (20,5%) wine and serve it in the glasses. An excellent, indeed, sample of Port, a deep red wine with complex, fine and deep aromas of dark chocolate, black cherry liqueur, pitch, tobacco, spices and other. It has a full, rich and endowed with excellent tannins taste, which will preserve it for a few decades, improving even more. We are talking about a top Vintage Port, but…

I put for a moment my glass down and think, ‘Excellent wine, but it did not exalt my senses. A good Commandaria is better.’ A daring thought you would say, funny even or silly for some. I share my thought with Chary, who is not convinced and finds it difficult to accept such a statement. Is the humble Commandaria €7-8 of worth better than the renowned Port that we had on our table? Is the forgotten vinicultural heritage of Cyprus, the insignificant poor wine of the island better than the magnificent and adored wine of Portugal? The question needed an answer, not only to convince my guests, but also to convince myself. Can really Commandaria compete with the great sweet wines of the planet or are we thinking emotionally and foolishly?

Without much thought, I walk towards the fridge in which there is for four months now a half-full bottle of Commandaria St John of KEO. I was using this poor bottle mostly for cooking rather than drinking, since the number of wines I taste every day does not allow me to finish drinking all wine bottles. I had forgotten the Commandaria St John at the door of the fridge and every time the door opened, the wine was stirred adding to its hardship and misuse. I grab the bottle and empty its content in four wine glasses that were on the table…

Aromatic explosion! Thickness, quality, delicacy, aromatic greatness. Character, rare idiosyncrasy, warmth, depth! I take a sip. Body, oiliness, flavourful and balance, long and intense superiority of taste. It is better! End of matter! Charis was convinced. Commandaria is clearly better than the famous Port and it cost only a few euros, nothing! It was the simplest wine that Commandaria villages can produce as it has unbelievable big room for improvement.

Nevertheless, nobody seems to be interested in investing in this wine, which is the only wine of the country that can have a future abroad and constitute the motive power that will push all the rest wines of the island to the attention and fame they deserve. We had 5-10 worthwhile things in this country and we had destroyed them all. We threw them away as if squeezed lemons and we turned our attention to the foreign and apparently convenient ones.

We have become a copy in this country, a vulgar imitation as the fake brand name bags various people sell on the pavements to women who want to deceive their desire for something authentic, genuine and remarkable. We love copies in this place, and with copies, we shall live from now on. Perhaps with some memories and pride for all the magnificent wines our ancestors left us, even if we have sold them out.

11/01/2008