Commandaria Centurion

A few more bottles of an old vintage! The Centurion is made, like the St-Nicholas, with the greatest respect for Cypriot traditions and the Commandaria, but this great Etko estate wine also benefits from a minimum of 20 years of ageing, which gives it an unequalled smoothness and complexity.

Best served with chocolate desserts or as an aperitif.

For more information:

La Commandaria.
Many claim that this is the oldest wine in the world, but no one is really sure how old it is. In 735, the poet Hesiod described Chyprus Nama, the ancestor of Commandaria, as a subtle, smooth, mellow and high quality wine. But its history is much older, the Greek Homer and the Egyptian pharaohs are said to have consumed this elixir.
The name Commandaria dates back to 1191: Richard the Lionheart gave Cyprus to the Templar order, which named the territories where they set up 'Commanderies'. The wine produced on these lands was therefore called Commandaria.
Since 1993, this appellation has been protected by a law delimiting the geographical area, the vines that survived phylloxera in 14 villages on the Troodos mountains, 30 km north of Limasol, the capital of Cyprus, and the conditions of production. Commandaria is made from 2 indigenous grape varieties. One is red, Mavro, the other white, Xynisteri.
The grapes must contain a minimum of 212 g/l of sugar at harvest for the white variety and 258 g/l for the red variety. After drying in the sun for a minimum of one week, the grapes should have an additional sugar content bringing the Xynisteri to 390 g/l and the Mavro to 450 g/l. The must is mutated during fermentation to wine brandy, the wine is then taken to the maturing cellars in Limasol to undergo at least 2 years of barrel ageing according to the solera principle.
Olivier Poussier, in his book "Desserts et Vins", recommends pairing
Commandaria with figs roasted in Collioure wine, another idea for pairing is with the Banyuls of the Parcé brothers, from the Mas Blanc estate. “

ETKO Estate:
Commandaria Region
This estate is the oldest in Cyprus, founded in 1844 by Christodoulos Haggipavlu in Limassol.
By combining over 160 years of tradition and know-how with state-of-the-art equipment, Etko is today the benchmark for quality.
Etko's great speciality is the historical fortified wines of Cyprus such as Commandaria, or Emva, a fortified wine that has been a huge success in the UK for many years.