15 Cyprus has produced wine since antiquity? Did you know that... In 2005, a team of Italian archaeologists concluded that some Chalcolithic wine jars which were discovered in the ancient site of Erimi, Cyprus, in the 1930s contained tartaric acid, a basic ingredient of wine. This provided conclusive proof that those 5,500year old recipients were used for wine and that the first wines in the Mediterranean region were produced in Cyprus, long before the Pafos mosaics were made depicting Dionysus, the god of wine. Ηomer praises Cypriot wines, while in many Greek works Cyprus is mentioned as “evinos”, meaning good wine producer. Around 800 B.C. the Greek poet Hesiod named cypriot wine as the Cypriot Manna, food from heaven. 4,000 years ago ancient Greeks drank wine during festivals celebrating the goddess of Love and Beauty, Aphrodite. Evripides called the wine used the “Cypriot Nama”, synonymous with the nectar of the Gods. According to tradition, people in Cyprus are considered the earliest wine producers in the world. The history of winemaking on the island can be traced back nearly 5,500 years.
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