Let's start with the great 'new' wine country. Why the inverted commas? Because this is actually a very old wine country whose wine industry almost died and is being resuscitated only now.
Cyprus sweet wine was the strongest and sweetest in Europe fetching the highest prices in England in the 13th and 14th centuries. A relic of that tradition of sweet (white) wine still exists in the dessert wine 'Commandaria.' The name comes from the time of the Crusades when the Knights Hospitallers moved their headquarters from Acre to Cyprus where each 'commandery' (manor) made wine.
There was a steep decline during Ottoman rule (1571-1878). The first modern winery was founded only in 1844. After the Turks, Cyprus was a British colony right up until 1960. During that time, the wine industry revived but not altogether in a good way with grape concentrate being exported to Japan, Central Europe and the UK where it became the dreaded 'British Wine.' Vermouth, Sangria, Gluehwein and Cyprus Sherry were churned out until tastes changed and in the 1980s and 90s, Cyprus lost over 70% of its vineyard land. Government subsidies were ended leading to further loss of vineyards.
Only in 2020 did the trend begin to reverse with a new generation of winemakers buying or replanting vineyards pursuing quality over quantity. In that year the Department of Agriculture recorded 3,800 ha. of vines and 116 registered wineries, up from 52 wineries in 2014.
And now for the 'new' grape: Morokanella. The word "Kanella" means cinnamon and moro is "small". The variety was rediscovered by Cypriot oenologist Akis Zambartas. The parentage is unknown. There may be a genetic relationship with the Canella variety. It is a purely female grape variety. The variety was widespread under the Ottoman occupation. It is now cultivated in small quantities.
Now we have waxed lyrical over various rare grape varieties in this Blog and that is our ambition - to taste as many as possible and recommend good ones in the hope that people might try them for themselves and derive pleasure from them as we did thus making the world of wine more diverse and not least saving varieties from extinction.
So when we make what might seem like an exaggerated claim please don't think it's just hyperbole. In this case we claim
Morokanella can be placed on a level with the greatest, noblest white grape varieties in the world including Chardonnay.
There - we have stated our claim and it is up to you to get a bottle from the charming people at 'Love from Cyprus.' They are Thomas Page and Marina Nicoli, a married couple from Cyprus and Surrey selling online.
In parentheses there is a story behind our bottle of Morokanella. We were looking for something to drink with some Cacio and Pepe Tortoloni. Not something we have had before but we imagined little bombs of pepper and cheese. A red wine was called for. It is some months since we went to a wonderful event called CyWineFest at a place called The Decorium in London N22 where we recieved a tutorial in the wines of Cyprus. As well as our bottle of Morokanella, we bought Maratheftiko (red) and a Promara (white). More of this later.
Now here's the thing as they say. Reaching into the cupboard we connected with our Morokanella which comes in a bottle of impenetrable glass and near record--breaking weight (772 gm). It was only after opening the bottle that we discovered it was filled with a white wine. Has that ever happened to you? Maybe not but there we were with the Cacio e Pepe sizzling on our plate and an unchilled white wine in our hand.
Of course we drank it and surprise, surprise not only did it stand up to the tortelloni (which admittedly weren't as peppery as we had imagined) but actually, drinking an aromatic white wine of character at room temperature was actually a revelation. It really is something we would do again. Or was it just that we were so enchanted with our new discovery?
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