Commandaria is a region in the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, home to the rich, amber-colored Commandaria dessert wine. The wine can be made only in a strictly defined region comprising 14 wine-producing villages in the Troodos foothills about 20 miles (30km) north of the city of Limassol. In 1993, the European Union registered 'Commandaria' as a protected name and geographical origin.
All Commandaria wines are both sweet and high in alcohol (15–20%). Their sweetness is entirely natural – the result of the high sugar levels wine grapes can achieve in Cyprus' warm climate, later concentrated by the drying process the grapes undergo before vinification (see passito). The high alcohol results from an addition of pure grape spirit (see fortification).
The historic Commandaria wine style dates back to the late 12th century, when Guy de Lusignan was gifted the island by King Richard 'the Lionheart' of England, who had captured it during the Crusades. De Lusignan fled to Cyprus after he was defeated and run out of Jerusalem. He imposed feudal rule and remained on the island until his death in 1194. The name 'Commandaria' comes from the Grand Commandery, the feudal land belonging to the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, where the original wine-producing vineyards were located.
Commandaria, southern Europe's most easterly wine region, has much in common with Oporto, its most westerly (some 2,300 miles away). Both produce sweet, fortified wines; both owe their existence to England's historic thirst for rich wine and war; both have had their name and style protected by law; and both are shipped down a river for ageing, to port cities which are the second largest in their respective nations.
One of the clearest differences between Commandaria and port is color: while Commandaria has a deep amber hue which gets darker as the years go by, port is red in its youth and bricks with age. Some Commandaria is made using a solera-style ageing system similar to those used to age sherry in Jerez (solera involves blending wine batches from successive years to create consistency of taste). There are even single-vintage cuvees produced in exceptional years.
Both red (Mavro) and white (Xynisteri) wine grapes are used to make Commandaria. Even today, their vines are generally trained into the traditional bush-vine form that was used before the development of structured trellising. The wine production and the style it produces remain true to the island's traditions in almost every regard.
Only a small quantity of Commandaria is made each vintage, so obtaining the wine is significantly more difficult than obtaining its western equivalents port or sherry. This rarity adds to its mystique and helps to maintain its firm ranking among the world's classic wines.
