The village-made wine is usually clarified by means of gypsum. It is carried down from the mountain villages in goat-skins (askos or ashia) on pack animals, and then sold to the Limassol merchants, who ship the greater part to Egypt.
The production of wine as carried out in Cyprus leaves much to be desired. M. Mouillefert, who visited Cyprus in 1892 to report on the wine industry, says: "The vintage is often gathered too late. Insufficient care is given to the picking of the grapes and diseased, rotten, mildewy or unripe grapes are often used which detract from the quality of the wine.
"The grapes are trodden and the fermentation takes place in jars and chatties of porous earth, of a capacity of 2 or 3 hectolitres, which are tarred inside to counteract their porosity. The houses in which the fermentation takes place are of almost the same temperature as the surrounding air, with the result that in the warmer parts of the Island fermentation at first is generally rapid or disturbed, and the temperature of the must becomes excessive. In the colder parts, on the contrary, the opposite takes place and the resulting wine is rough and sharp. The use of gypsum as a preservative is unfortunately very common. The tarring of the goat-skins and jars imparts a flavour which is very unsuited to the European taste."
M. Mouillefert made the following recommendations: "Tarred jars for fermentation should be replaced by wooden vats, or, in the warmer parts of the Island, by tuns similar to those used throughout the South of France and in Algeria. Presses less primitive than those in use should be employed since these leave in the lees a very large quantity of wine. The wine when drawn off from the lees should be kept in tuns or in small wooden casks." "In short," he says, "to speak quite plainly, no good wine destined for ordinary consumption can be obtained with jars."
Some twenty years ago an English Wine Company was established at Perapedhi and, until the war, carried on a successful trade and produced some good wines manufactured on modern lines. The factory was well equipped with up-to-date plant, and its wine of port type was especially popular. It was throughout the greater part of this time owned by the firm of W. H. Chaplin & Co., London, but since the war it has been closed down. The excellent brandy of Messrs. Hadji Pavlo & Co. has found for some time a steady market in England, and there are other well-equipped wine and spirit factories at Limassol, notably those of the Limassol Wine & Spirit Co., Ltd., of Mr. M. Michaelides and of Mr. N. Joannides.
The firm of Messrs. Hadji Pavlo & Co. has carried out since 1872 the manufacture of spirits, and for twenty-five years they have been engaged in producing their "Zanatzin" brand of wines. Their V.O. cognac and three-star brandy are both excellent.
Various liqueurs, made from local products, aniseed, kernels of apricots and other stone fruit, etc., are made by this and other firms, and sold under the name "Zucki."
The principal wines, spirits, liqueurs and other alcoholic liquors produced are:
The ordinary black wine of the country, or "krasi."
The ordinary white wine of the country, or "asprokrasi."