Wine & Commandaria
The oldest named wine in the world is still being made here.
Fourteen villages on the southern slopes of the Troodos are the only place on earth allowed to call it Commandaria. You can drive there on a Sunday.
What makes it different
Commandaria
A sweet amber wine made from sun-dried Xynisteri and Mavro grapes, aged in oak. It takes its name from the Grande Commanderie, the estate the Knights Templar held here after the Crusades — and it is a protected designation of origin, so it may only be made in fourteen named villages on the south slopes of the Troodos.
It is routinely described as the oldest named wine still in production. That is a claim about a name surviving rather than a recipe, and it is worth knowing which part is which before repeating it at a dinner party.
The practical version, for someone deciding whether to live here: it is made forty minutes from Limassol, the villages that make it are places you can drive to on a Sunday afternoon, and most of the producers will pour you a glass if you ring ahead.
The thing most people do not know
Cyprus vines were never hit by phylloxera.
The louse that destroyed almost every vineyard in Europe in the nineteenth century never reached the island. Cypriot vines are therefore largely ungrafted, growing on their own roots — and the local grapes, Xynisteri, Mavro, Maratheftiko, are not varieties you will have drunk much of anywhere else.
It is the reason a small island has a wine scene worth taking seriously rather than a souvenir industry.
Seven signposted routes
The wine routes, and what each one is for
All seven carry their own road signs, so you can follow one without a map. They are the Deputy Ministry of Tourism’s, not ours.
Laona–Akamas
Beaches and headland on one side, hill villages with old wine traditions on the other.
Vouni Panagias–Ampelitis
A panoramic mountain route with, in the booklet's own words, an endless choice of local wines.
Diarizos Valley
The quiet one. A valley thick with vineyards that most visitors never turn off for.
Krasochoria of Lemesos
Literally the wine villages — Omodos, Lofou, Vouni and their neighbours, each with its own character.
Commandaria
Fourteen villages on the southern slopes of the Troodos, the only place the wine may legally come from.
Pitsilia
High, cool and slow. Mountain corners that have kept their living traditions.
Larnaka–Lefkosia
The route that is easiest to do on a weekday, between the two cities.
The wine country
Krasochoria, Omodos, Lofou.
Stone villages at eight hundred metres, cobbled squares, a monastery in the middle and vines on every slope below. Forty minutes from the Limassol seafront.
The village from the ridgeLofou · Limassolour photograph
Tavernas on the cobblesLofou · Limassolour photograph
A winery terrace above the valleyKrasochoria · Limassolour photograph
The monastery courtyardOmodos · Limassolour photograph
The falls in the gorgeTroodos · Limassolour photograph
Ridges into the hazeTroodos · Nicosiaour photograph
A lane in the old villageLofou · Limassolour photograph
Vines in the wine villagesKrasochoria · Limassolour photograph
Stainless steel, harvest seasonKrasochoria · Limassolour photograph
Water over the rocksTroodos · Limassolour photograph
A painted-roof churchTroodos · Nicosiaour photograph
Sun going down over the rangeTroodos · Nicosiaour photograph12 photographs, all our own · hover or focus a row to stop it
Doors you can actually knock on
11 wineries with a working website
The ministry’s booklet lists 26 winery websites. We fetched every one on 2026-09-22: 15 of them are gone — lapsed domains, sites that now refuse visitors, and one that is no longer a winery at all. These 11 answered. Ring ahead before you drive: most of these are small family operations, not tasting rooms with opening hours.
SODAP
sodap.com.cy
Vasilikon
vasilikon.com
Vouni Panayia
vounipanayiawinery.com
Tsangarides
tsangarideswinery.com
M. Antoniades
antoniadeswinery.com
Vlassides
vlassideswinery.com
Ktima Gerolemo
ktimagerolemo.com
Zambartas
zambartaswineries.com
Menargos
commandaria.wine
Revecca
reveccawinery.com
Tsiakkas
tsiakkaswinery.com
Routes, villages and the winery list come from Cyprus Wine Routes — Deputy Ministry of Tourism. Every link above was fetched and answered on 2026-09-22; the ones that did not are not shown rather than left to fail on you.
The villages worth the drive
Weekend-trip villages within ninety minutes of any city — the wine country and everything around it. Folded in from the old villages guide.
Limassol
Omodos
Krasochoria wine routeCobbled square, Holy Cross monastery, six wineries in walking distance.
Lofou
Traditional stone village with restored guesthouses + a single perfect taverna.
Vouni
Hilltop with views down to the coast; Vouni Panayia winery.
Platres
Troodos mountainMountain resort; ski in February, walk the Caledonia waterfall trail in spring.
Nicosia
Kakopetria
Troodos foothillsOld-quarter river-village with watermills; 90 min from Nicosia.
Galata
Painted Byzantine churches (UNESCO) walk-able loop.
Larnaca
Pano Lefkara
Lace-making village; Leonardo da Vinci reputedly bought lace here for Milan cathedral.
Kalavasos
Old copper-mining village in the Vasilikos valley; small but interesting.
Polis & Akamas
Drouseia
Cliff-top village above Akamas; sunsets over the peninsula.
Paphos
Kathikas
Laona plateauWine-village belt; Vouni Panayia, Sterna and Tsangarides wineries within 20 min.
The wine villages are also somewhere to live.
Omodos, Lofou and the Krasochoria sit in Limassol district — cheaper than the coast, an hour from the airport, and cold enough in winter to need a fire.