Tell me something I don’t know about Commandaria

I had never heard about Commandaria until I went to Cyprus 🇨🇾 Quite a discovery for me — a sweet wine that has been produced for over 5,000 (!!!) years, making it one of the oldest continuously produced wines in the world. And it’s also the world’s oldest named wine, as it has remained unchanged since the crusades in the 12th century. Wow!

Fine, here are more facts:

🍇The grapes are sun-dried on mats for 10–15 days before being pressed, to concentrate sugars and flavours

🍇While it can be made as a fortified wine, it actually often reaches 15% before fortification just through its production method

🍇The word ‘Commanderie’ refers to the military headquarters

🍇According to legend, it was served at the wedding of King Richard the Lionheart (that happened in Cyprus and there’s a story as to why), who then pronounced it “the wine of kings and the king of wines” (yep, yet another one of those!)

🍇Another legend has it that the Ottoman Sultan Selim II invaded Cyprus just to get his hands on Commandaria

🍇And yet another claims that it won the first ever wine tasting competition in the 13th century organized by Philip Augustus of France

🍇It’s delicious.

Enough of wine facts 🎓

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