Past the early harvest euphoria, Cyprus vineyards will soon settle into the heart of the grape harvest with the recollection of native grapes.

Growers have for a long time not been able to rely on some stable farming conditions. Doing without weather havoc, without vineyard diseases, even the occasional episodes of extreme heat, will not have prevented the feeling that the 2023 harvest will be a very productive this year.

Despite the buoyancy in the vineyards, essential as testimonial of the return of confidence, quality fruit contributing to wine excellence are essentials. Yet one can’t overlook that wine production and wine sales must also accompany the positive momentum of productivity, this so, despite the continued fall of wine grape production in Cyprus since 2004.

Thankfully in the last decade, the coupling of grape selection and sustained push for quality winemaking has been an effort driven largely by those wineries situated in the grape growing areas. This focus has not only consolidated wineries with modern tools but also revived an interest for sustainable grape growing and thus a proximity to the concerns of grape farming.

Enter specialization of vine growing, generational succession, aging farming populations, vineyard abandonment, economic viability of farming grapes, soil nutrition, sustaining mountain viticulture and addressing ecological practices – all factors to be addressed for the sake of a better fruit in the long run.

How and which market dynamics will ensure balance in the vineyards is the lingering challenge.

As the evolving wine producing structure seeks to address these issues at this very moment, harvest always takes on a priority, so let’s keep working.