Discover the Unparalleled Quality of Tsiakkas Winery

Altitude does the work here that latitude does elsewhere. Cyprus sits far south, and the summer heat on the coastal plain is severe, but the Tsiakkas vineyards climb into pine forest on steep, terraced ground. The home vineyard at the winery sits at 1,000 metres. Petralona, above Agros, reaches 1,440 metres, which places it among the highest planted vineyards in Europe. The site around the winery faces north and holds direct sun only from around nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, so the fruit ripens slowly and keeps its acidity.

The second thing that sets the estate apart is the vine material. Cyprus was never reached by phylloxera, so the vines are grown on their own roots, propagated from heritage cuttings rather than bought in on rootstock. Some of the parcels are very old: Mouklos, at 920 metres above Pelendri, was planted in 1950 to Mavro Ambelisimo and Promara and is still goblet trained by hand. Agios Mamas, in the Commandaria zone at 800 metres on limestone, was planted to Xynisteri before 1950.

What makes Tsiakkas Winery special

  • Founded in 1988 by Costas Tsiakkas, who gave up banking to make wine in Pelendri.
  • Vineyards from 700 to 1,440 metres in the Pitsilia region of the Troodos mountains.
  • Ungrafted, phylloxera-free vines propagated from heritage cuttings.
  • Certified organic cultivation across every parcel since 1995, with hand harvesting.
  • A working portfolio of 18 labels built around indigenous Cypriot varieties.

Pitsilia is a Protected Designation of Origin in its own right, and the surrounding district gives the PGI Lemesos designation under which many of the wines are bottled. It is a region of small terraces, igneous and schist soils, cold nights and thin mountain air, and the wines carry that: taut, savoury, more about line and grip than about weight.

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The People Behind Tsiakkas Winery

The People Behind Tsiakkas Winery

Costas Tsiakkas founded the winery in Pelendri, in the Limassol district of Cyprus, in 1988. It began as a hobby with a few hundred bottles and grew into an annual production of around 200,000, exported to nine countries. His father, by family account, watched the banker turn vigneron and asked him what on earth he had done.

The second generation now runs the day to day. Orestis Tsiakkas works as oenologist and leads wine production and commercial development. His brother Ektoras Tsiakkas is the viticulturist, responsible for the vineyards, and is named as such on the parcels around the winery. Their sister looks after hospitality and visits. The division is deliberate: one sibling in the vines, one in the cellar, and a family that eats together at the end of harvest.

How Tsiakkas Winery began

The founding was modest by design. A newly married couple, a small plot outside Pelendri and 500 bottles of red in the first year. The business was originally registered under the name Orestis, after the couple’s eldest son, and took the family surname a few years later when twins arrived and the name no longer fitted.

Through the late 1990s the estate did what most ambitious Cypriot producers did and planted French varieties: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Grenache. Those wines still exist, in the collection the winery calls Noble. But the direction of travel since has run the other way, back towards the grapes that were already growing on the mountain.

Reviving the native varieties

Reviving the native varieties

Costas Tsiakkas has been direct about the shift, arguing that Cyprus should not turn its back on native varietals that grow so well there and have done for hundreds of years. The Autochthon collection is the result: Promara, a white variety recovered from near disappearance, Mouklos from the old goblet-trained parcel, Yiannoudi, and Vamvakada, which is the name used in Pitsilia and the Paphos hills for the grape known elsewhere in Cyprus as Maratheftiko.

Vamvakada is difficult. It flowers erratically and drops fruit, which is why growers abandoned it, but it gives deeply coloured, firmly structured reds with dark cherry and blackberry aromatics. Yiannoudi is rarer still, a red that had almost vanished from commercial plantings and now occupies four of the nine Tsiakkas parcels, at Agia Kyriaki, Kapnisis, Vineyard 27 and the home vineyard.

Why this matters

  • Nine parcels farmed organically since 1995, half owned and half with named partner growers.
  • Ungrafted vines on their own roots, a possibility Cyprus retains because phylloxera never arrived.
  • Old-vine material at Mouklos (planted 1950) and Agios Mamas (planted before 1950).
  • Indigenous varieties, Promara, Yiannoudi and Vamvakada among them, brought back into commercial production.
  • A stated commitment to minimum intervention in both the farming and the cellar.

“Tsiakkas expresses the Pitsilia mountains through ungrafted native vines, organic terraces between 700 and 1,440 metres, and a family that farms the fruit it ferments.”

At the Table: How Tsiakkas Is Drunk in the Troodos

In the mountain villages of Pitsilia, wine belongs to the meze table and to the long, slow lunch. It arrives with cured pork, halloumi off the grill, wild greens dressed in oil and lemon, and it is drunk with food rather than before it. The Tsiakkas range is built for that setting.

  • Xynisteri, the island’s principal white variety, poured cold with grilled halloumi and fish
  • Vamvakada and Yiannoudi, structured mountain reds, served with lamb, kleftiko and slow-cooked pulses
  • Commandaria PDO, the sweet amber wine of the Troodos, taken at the end of a meal
  • Oak-aged Zivania, the Cypriot grape marc distillate, offered in small measures after coffee
  • All of it grown between 700 and 1,440 metres on ungrafted, organically farmed vines

The pleasure of these wines is regional rather than international. They taste of a specific set of terraces on a specific mountain, and they make most sense on a table laid with the food those terraces sit above.

Tsiakkas Winery: What Sets High-Altitude Cypriot Wine Apart

Four things account for the character of these wines: where the vines sit, what the vines are, how the fruit is picked, and how the finished wine is matured. Each is documented parcel by parcel.

QualityDescription
TerroirNine parcels in Pitsilia and the Commandaria zone, from 700 metres at Vouni to 1,440 metres at Petralona, on sandy igneous, schist and limestone soils, mostly terraced.
VarietyIndigenous Xynisteri, Promara, Spourtiko, Mavro Ambelisimo, Ofthalmo, Yiannoudi and Vamvakada (the Pitsilia name for Maratheftiko), alongside French varieties planted in the late 1990s.
ViticultureUngrafted, phylloxera-free vines on their own roots, propagated from heritage cuttings, certified organic since 1995 and hand harvested. Training is VSP trellis or traditional goblet, depending on the parcel.
AgeingCommandaria is matured a minimum of four years in oak. The oak-aged Zivania spends ten years in barrels that previously held Commandaria, which gives it its golden colour.
AppellationCommandaria holds Protected Designation of Origin status. Pitsilia is a separate PDO, and the wider district carries the PGI Lemesos designation used on many of the labels.

The house style follows from all of it: cool-climate acidity from altitude, savoury depth from old ungrafted material, and a preference for restraint over extraction in the cellar.

Pairing Tsiakkas Wines and Spirits

These are food wines, and the pairings that work best are the ones the mountain itself suggests. A few practical notes on serving.

PairingWhy it works
Xynisteri with grilled halloumiThe variety's citrus and stone-fruit line and firm acidity cut through the salt and the squeak of the cheese. Serve at around 8 to 10°C.
Yiannoudi with roast chicken or lambRed and black fruit, brambleberry, nutmeg and white pepper over rounded tannins and tangy acidity, at about 13.5% alcohol. Serve at 16 to 18°C.
Vamvakada with kleftiko and pulsesDark cherry and blackberry with real tannic grip, which suits slow-cooked lamb and the earthiness of beans and lentils. An hour in a decanter helps young bottles.
Commandaria PDO with dried fruit and hard cheeseSun-dried Xynisteri and Mavro, aged a minimum of four years in oak, giving amber colour, raisin, fig, honey and nut. Serve lightly chilled at 12 to 14°C in a small glass.
Oak-aged Zivania after the mealTen years in Commandaria barrels rounds the marc spirit and adds dried fruit and spice. Served neat at room temperature in a small measure.

Cellaring: the Commandaria will keep developing for a decade or more from release. The reds reward three to five years in bottle. The whites are best drunk young, while the altitude-driven acidity is at its brightest.

Sustainable and Ethical Practices at Tsiakkas Winery

Sustainable and Ethical Practices at Tsiakkas Winery

At Tsiakkas Winery, organic certification is not a recent addition. The estate converted in 1995, at a point when very few Cypriot producers had done so, and the standard now covers every one of the nine parcels rather than a showcase vineyard.

The stated approach is minimum intervention in both farming and winemaking. On terraced mountain ground at these altitudes, mechanisation is largely impossible anyway, so harvesting is done by hand and the parcels are worked individually, several of them with the partner growers named on the estate’s own vineyard records.

Their approach

A family that farms roughly 20 hectares across nine separate mountain parcels has to know each one, and the estate publishes them individually: soil, altitude, planting year, training system and the grower responsible. Every parcel is organic and every vine is ungrafted, grown on its own roots from heritage cuttings, which is a possibility Cyprus retains because the island escaped phylloxera. The oldest material, at Mouklos and at Agios Mamas in the Commandaria zone, predates the winery by four decades. Production sits at around 200,000 bottles a year across 18 labels, split into four collections, and reaches nine export markets. Costas Tsiakkas founded the estate in 1988; his sons Orestis and Ektoras now run the cellar and the vineyards between them.

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Award-Winning Wines from Pitsilia

Tsiakkas Winery has been recognised at the Cyprus Wine Competition, the island’s principal judging. At the eighth edition in 2015, judged blind by a seven-member panel across 139 labels, the Tsiakkas Commandaria 2008 took a gold medal and the Tsiakkas Xynisteri 2014 took silver, a pairing that neatly summarises the estate: the historic sweet wine of the Troodos on one hand, the island’s everyday white variety on the other, both from the same mountain.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Tsiakkas Winery

  • What is Tsiakkas Winery?

    Tsiakkas is a family winery just outside Pelendri, in the Pitsilia region of the Troodos mountains in Cyprus. It was founded in 1988 by Costas Tsiakkas, a former banker, and now produces around 200,000 bottles a year across 18 labels. His sons Orestis and Ektoras run the cellar and the vineyards.

  • Where are the vineyards and how high are they?

    Nine parcels in Pitsilia and the Commandaria zone, totalling roughly 20 hectares. Altitudes run from 700 metres at Vouni to 1,440 metres at Petralona above Agros, which places the highest parcels among the highest vineyards in Europe.

  • Are the wines organic?

    Yes. Every parcel has been under organic cultivation since 1995, and the estate describes its method as minimum intervention in both the farming and the winemaking. Harvesting is by hand, which the terraced mountain terrain makes unavoidable in any case.

  • What is Vamvakada?

    Vamvakada is the name used in Pitsilia and the mountainous Paphos region for Maratheftiko, an indigenous Cypriot red variety. It flowers unreliably and is awkward to grow, which is why plantings declined, but it produces deeply coloured, firmly structured wines with cherry and blackberry aromatics.

  • What is Yiannoudi?

    Yiannoudi is a rare indigenous Cypriot red that had nearly disappeared from commercial vineyards. Tsiakkas grows it in four parcels. The wine shows red and black fruit, brambleberry, nutmeg and white pepper, with rounded tannins and tangy acidity at around 13.5% alcohol.

  • What is Commandaria?

    Commandaria is a sweet amber wine made from sun-dried Xynisteri and Mavro grapes in a defined zone of Troodos villages, aged a minimum of four years in oak and holding Protected Designation of Origin status. It is documented as the oldest named wine still in production. The Tsiakkas version reaches around 15% alcohol naturally.

  • What is Zivania?

    Zivania is the traditional Cypriot distillate made from grape pomace, in this case Xynisteri and Mavro, combined with local dry wines. The Tsiakkas bottling is aged for ten years in barrels that previously held Commandaria, which gives it a golden colour, and is bottled at 45% alcohol.

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