Latest news with #FilipposKarseras

Forbes

A Long History On Cyprus Of Family-Made Commandaria At Karseras Winery

Filippos Karseras and Panayiotis Karseras of the Karseras Family Winery, Doros, Cyprus, copyright BKWine Photography BKWine Photography Commandaria is probably the oldest recognised wine denomination still in use. Its name refers to an estate conquered during one of the crusades, 700 or 800 years ago. More recently, in the 20th century, it lived a quiet and peaceful life, produced by only a handful of big producers, not much seen outside of Cyprus. But in recent decades, there's a new dynamism in the region. Small family producers with new ideas have started to make new-wave commandaria. I talked with Filippos Karseras who owns the Karseras Winery, one of the first 'growers' commandaria', together with his father Panayiotis. Some olive trees in Cyprus are estimated to be over 2,000 years old. That means that even though commandaria is the oldest named wine type in the world (wine of a recognised name), some of the trees on the island had been growing for more than 1000 years before commandaria became famous. But even if it is an ancient wine type, until recently, there were only a handful of very large producers making it. An ancient olive tree at the Karseras Winery, Doros, Cyprus, copyright BKWine Photography BKWine Photography But having a long history does not guarantee fame, so what is commandaria wine? It is a sweet wine made in Cyprus. Two grape varieties are used, both indigenous, the red mavro and the white xynisteri. After harvest the grapes are left in the sun to dry. It is then fermented into a sweet wine, usually fortified. One can compare it to a sweet port or madeira or to a vin santo or vin de paille, but it is a limping comparison. Commandaria is a style of its own. One of the pioneers of 'growers' commandaria' is the Karseras Winery. It was established as a commandaria-producing winery in 1998. But the family had been growing grapes long before that. The winery was founded by Panayiotis Karseras and his wife Lenia. One of their four sons, also named Panayiotis Karseras, and the grandson Filippos Karseras, now run the winery. The old Karseras Family Winery, Doros, Cyprus, copyright BKWine Photography BKWine Photography Clay jars, "pitharia", used for winemaking in Cyprus fur hundreds of years at the Karseras Winery, Doros, Cyprus, copyright BKWine Photography BKWine Photography However, even though it is a young winery, it has a long history. I asked Filippos how long his family had been making wine, 'Literally, since forever. The University has told us that the first Karseras in our area were mentioned in the 11th century,' Filippos explained. No doubt there has been a family production from the vineyards they own since, well, probably not forever, but for a long, long time. But this was not commercially sold. The commercial market was dominated for most of the 20th century by four large companies until what I could call the revival of the Cypriot wine industry around the time Karseras began. The Karseras Winery is in the Doros (Dhoros) village, just half an hour from the city of Limassol on the south coast of Cyprus. It is one of the fourteen villages on the southern slopes of the Troodos mountain range making commandaria. Karseras is entirely focused on producing Commandaria. They don't make any table wine on a commercial scale. They have around 15 hectares of vines. The vineyards are spread across six of the 14 commandaria villages. The main grape variety is the red (black) mavro, with a little bit of the white xynisteri. Vines in the vineyard of the Karseras Family Winery, Doros, Cyprus, copyright BKWine Photography BKWine Photography Today, there are two different types of commandaria: fortified and non-fortified. Both are made from very sweet sun-dried grapes. Traditionally, fortified was the only method used commercially, but now it is also allowed to produce non-fortified commandaria, This seems to be the preferred method among smaller producers. Filippos is a firm believer in the non-fortified approach. 'When you put spirit in it, you kill everything,' he says. They use stainless steel for vinification, then let the wine age in barrels, and finally in bottles. The 'Family Edition' of their commandaria has spent two years in barrel and undergoes a light filtering before bottling. For this wine, they use 90-95% mavro and the rest is xynisteri. It is sold in a curious short and tubby bottle with an original label with an old man with wispy hair and a long beard. But that's why it is called the Family edition. The man on the label is a portrait of the founder of the winery, who was also a priest in the village for 60 years, namely Father Panayiotis Karseras. The wine is quite light, sweet, of course, but modestly so and very elegant with a distinctly refreshing acidity. Karseras Winery Commandaria, Family Edition and Platinum, Doros, Cyprus, copyright BKWine Photography BKWine Photography For their more expensive prestige wine, called 'Platinum', they don't do any filtering; instead, they let it age for twenty years. The current vintage is 2005. It is intensely sweet, with 155 grams of sugar per litre. But this, too, is comparatively light in body, in a very elegant style, with intense flavours of sweet apricot marmalade and fresh apricots, honey, spices... Since this wine is unfiltered it can have a slight deposit. In the yard outside the winery, there is a row of some ancient-looking olive trees. They may not be thousands of years old, but they were certainly there and already old when Father Panayiotis, founder of the winery, was born—a history to nurture with care. —Per Karlsson