Kyperounda East-West, a crazy project for Xynisteri and Cyprus

By Yiannis Karakasis MW

I recently found myself in my beloved Cyprus to present three new wines to wine professionals on behalf of Kyperounda Winery. The winery has been producing Petritis Xynisteri since 2002, a point reference for the variety and all Cypriot white wines. Twenty years later, the winery and its ingenious oenologist Minas Mina are aspiring to take the conversation further via a crazy project that is probably uncommon worldwide.

“With our new Xynisteri wines, ''East'' and ''West'', we want to understand better the limits and the different expressions of the variety”, says Minas Mina. He informs me that for this particular project, the same protocol has been used for both wines. These are two neighbouring vineyards that differ only in their aspect.

The Western vineyard, producing the West wine, is a plot of 0,5ha planted in 1965 and receives the warmer afternoon sun. The Eastern vineyard that produces the East wine is a plot of 0,42ha planted in 1950 and receives the milder morning sun. Blind tasting these two wines side by side was a fascinating exercise and the ultimate expression of terroir. ''East'' was structured, with higher aromatic intensity and herbal notes, cutting acidity and fantastic freshness. ''West'', on the other hand, was fuller, more food-oriented, with less energy but more length on the finish. Only 1,000 bottles of both wines jointly are released.

I enjoyed presenting these two beautiful wines, together with the new Maratheftiko that is labelled Alma (made to be drunk chilled throughout the year), and I am looking forward to the a new era of Cypriot wine that is slowly but steadily unfolding.